Similar Differences
by siany
Summary: Crossover with 'Harry Potter'. T just to be safe. Naruto gets transported into Harry's bedroom and has the hard task of getting home. Complete, Re-edited, Finished
1. Inochi

**Similar Differences, by siany**

Trees rushed past the blond ninja as he struggled to keep up with the giant snake throwing bits of debris back at him as they went. It was going to lead him to Sasuke, he knew it. A branch whipped across his face but he didn't stop, he couldn't if he wanted to catch up. A clearing came into view occupied by two people and his hope flared as he came hurtling forwards out into the open, right in the path of a kunai. The blade dug deep into his back but that was not what the blond was worried about. The moment the weapon made contact with his skin he felt a sudden jolt at his navel and the world began to spin as he was jerked up and away.

XXOO

Harry James Potter was not the happiest sixteen-year-old in the world. In fact it would be quite accurate to say the exact opposite. At the age of one he had been orphaned and made famous all in one night by one particular Dark Wizard. The next ten years leading up to the revelation that he was, himself, a wizard were spent in the care of his less then caring aunt and her family. After being taken to Hogwarts he had had three relatively happy years (if you didn't count the yearly trips back to his aunt's house) where he had made some friends and found his godfather. Everything had been ruined though by the return of his parent's murderer and the death of his rival. That had been a year ago. His fifth year at Hogwarts had been all but unbearable and had been ended quite badly by the death of his beloved godfather. And now here he was, sitting alone in his room in his Aunt and Uncle's house shutting out the world in his own vain attempts to heal the void left in his heart by his wholly unfortunate existence.

A pecking at the window drew him out of his daydream and he opened it, letting the snowy owl into his stiflingly hot room. He didn't really bother about leaving his window open so that the relatively cool breeze could lower the temperature. Harry wanted it hot and uncomfortable. If he zoned out totally then that was all he would think about and the still fresh pain from losing the closest thing he had to a father would leave him, even if it was only for a few moments at the most. Harry petted the bird absently as he undid the letter from her leg and read the darn thing which was two lines telling him they would come to get him as soon as they could afford the people. Faint anger rose up in the boy as he remembered that one of them was a certain headmaster, but his anger died as soon as it came, not having the strength to maintain it.

Flopping down on his bed Harry sighed and buried his dead in his pillow. Long cried out he just lay there, losing all sense of time.

Maybe I should get something to eat... he mused vaguely as his stomach gave a rather painful growl. Or start on that potions-

POOF!

A large cloud of smoke erupted inside Harry's room and he was upright with his wand in had in a second flat. Panic seized him at what could possibly access his room where he was supposedly guarded by magic. Coughing not his own entered his ears and it sounded like more than just smoke was being brought up as a few drops a liquid hit the floor. As the smoke subsided Harry could see a huddled mass on the floor. Orange, yellow and blue where the prominent colours before Harry's eyes drew out the shape of the obviously male intruder. His spiky blond hair seemed to defy gravity as it was held up by some sort of headband. His bright orange jump suit was strange but not greatly so. What was startling to Harry was the sharp metal object protruding from his back, which was also stained with blood.

XXOO

Naruto felt himself stop just as suddenly as he had started. The smoke around him irritated his throat and he coughed rather violently, tasting the blood on his tongue as it dripped to the floor. Then the sting in his back registered and he gasped. The sun was no longer above him like it should have been but flittering in from a small window to the side. In an instant he had pulled the Kunai from his back and shoved it forward protectively, backing himself into a wall and staring, wide eyed at the boy staring back at him equally as shocked it seemed at the misplaced shinobi.

"How the hell did you get into my room!" Asked Harry once he had found his voice after what turn out to be a boy no older then he was himself had scrambled away from him and back to the door.

Naruto's eyes widened; that wasn't his native tongue but he could understand it.

"Shit!" He exclaimed loudly. "What the hell! Shit! Shitshitshitshit! I can-but that's not-holly crap I'm speaking it too!" Naruto didn't lower the kunai during his string of confused swearing. Where was he, what had happened?

"Who are you!" Yelled Harry when the blond didn't answer his first question. "And where did you come from?"

Calming himself down enough to get some relevant and reasonably intelligent thought into his head Naruto looked the other up and down. He didn't seem to pose a threat by the looks of him but the stick he was pointing at him could be potentially dangerous. He needed to find out if the boy meant him harm or not. Deciding to ignore the different dialect that he seemed to understand completely when he had never even heard it before, he dropped the knife and lowered his arm.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I don't know what the hell just happened. One moment I was in the forest chasing that giant snake and then when that was thrown at me" He pointed at the discarded weapon "I felt like I was being pulled somewhere by a fishing hook in my belly. Not the most pleasant of feelings but not the worst either." His breathing was completely calm by now but he was beginning to feel light headed. "Oh crap, please no..."

"'Please no' what?" Asked Harry utterly confused as to why this boy was chasing a giant snake in the first place let alone doing it willingly and getting in the way of what he presumed to be a portkey.

A quick scan with one of his jitsu's confirmed his fear. "It was covered in poison..." Sweat was starting to form on his forehead. "It's spreading particularly fast. Probably meant for someone else since I just got in the way of it. Whatever you do don't touch the kunai. I don't know how potent it is still and even the smallest cut could be fatal. I'm presuming you're helpful if you haven't tried to attack me yet. I'm not about to hurt you either if it stays that way...not that I can at the moment any...way...Please get me to a hospital, a healer, anything..." Man he hated poison. Kyuubi's powers weren't really enough to be able to fight it off, though it did give him a little more time than most other victims.

Harry weighed up his options. This Naruto was obviously in a lot of pain and he had said he wouldn't attack him if he didn't him. Granted the blond had just been transported here by some unknown portkey. But the kid was very disorientated and Harry felt obliged to help him, even if he wasn't really sure how he was going to go about that.

His questions were answered moments later by a loud pounding on his door. It was locked, he knew and the intruder was sitting in the way. Carefully Harry pushed Naruto to the side and opened it himself to be greeted by the sight of his third year defence against the dark arts teacher's bedraggled form.

"Harry! Oh thank goodness, are you alright? There was a report of a portkey materializing in your room so I was sent to check it out. Did anything happen!" This was all spouted from Remus Lupin's mouth before Harry even had a chance to even register who exactly it was and it took him a moment to recover from the wave of words. A low groan from down near their feet caught both Wizards' attention and Lupin jumped, immediately whipping out his wand.

"Whoa!" Harry cautioned while grabbing Lupin's arm and forcing him to lower it. "His name is Naruto and he needs our help. He says he wasn't the one meant to be sent here by the portkey but he doesn't seem to know what a portkey is. He's been poisoned and needs urgent medical assistance."

XXOO

The portkey to St. Mungos was unpleasant for all concerned. Naruto hadn't wanted to go anywhere else the way he had come to Harry's room and had started to yell. Harry's family had presumably hidden somewhere, Harry wasn't quite sure, and Harry himself along with Lupin had had to carry the poisoned and struggling Naruto down the stairs and outside so that the waiting band of Phoenix members could rush them to the Wizard's Hospital.

Whoever this boy was he did seem to need magical aid and even if they wanted to just send him to a muggle hospital it wouldn't have done them any good. His memory could always be wiped if he didn't already know about the Wizarding world.

Harry was now in the waiting room. There was no point going back to the Dursley's now, not that he wanted to. There were already people going to fetch his things to take them to Grimwald place. It had turned out one of the poisons Naruto had been infected with had been the same snake venom Mr Weasley had been the year before so they had been able to heal him of that quickly enough. The one actually affecting the boy had been a common one which they had also fixed up in a jiffy. The Blonde's now returning, but rather groggy, protests rang through the whole ward until a rather stiff healer yelled at him and he quieted.

In truth the Uzumaki boy interested Harry deeply. Questions flitted in his head, like who was this kid exactly and what was he doing here, but he wouldn't be able to see him for a few minutes yet and the Order wanted to question him first. Wondering vaguely whether or not he would be able to sit in on this questioning he stood up and made his way to the bathroom he knew was on this level.

Everything was spotless in the ever white bathroom and Harry groaned. He hated white now-a-days since it seemed to mean something bad had happened. The door opened and closed and then a loud laugh erupted behind him, making the black haired boy spin on his heels to face the newcomer. Naruto was doubled over and laughing his head off, blocking the door by leaning on it. He looked up at Harry, grinned then focused on calming himself down.

"Oh that was a hoot, they'll find out in a moment." As if on queue a loud curse sounded somewhere down the hall and Naruto's grin broadened, self control evidently keeping his laughter away. "No matter where you are, men are always perverted." Chuckled the blond and walked over to the other, standing next to Harry, hands behind his head. "So what's your story? Where the hell am I? What is this device called a Pore key or whatever, and why am I speaking a language that I don't know?"

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the Blond's antics. He was just so loud and happy at the moment it seemed to be rubbing off on him. "Since you gave me your name I should give you mine, I guess. I'm Harry Potter." There was no change in the others face to suggest he knew anything about Harry's so called great deeds so he went on, already liking the blond. "You're in England, a portkey is a teleportation device and as for your last question I have absolutely no idea. I'm actually rather confused myself about this whole mess. The adults will probably be able to explain things better than I can..." Harry turned his head to face Naruto. The teen was surprisingly easy to talk to; there had even been points where he had almost forgotten to angst. "But what exactly did you do to them?"

Naruto just grinned and turned to face the door as it burst open to reveal two very angry and wand wielding wizards both supporting blood noises. "I used my harem jutsu; highly effective to annoy older males."

"You!" shouted one of the wizards at the door who was in all actuality (much to Harry's displeasure) none other than his Potions Master Severus Snape. "It's illegal for minors to use magic outside of school!"

"School! But I passed school years ago! And I'd hardly call a jutsu 'magic'!" shouted the blond rather rudely.

Passed...school? But he couldn't have been any older then Harry was. How could he possibly have passed school and be able to use magic if he was only 16? "Naruto, how old are you?" He asked over the still yelling teacher.

Naruto, who was totally ignoring Snape by now as the other tried to restrain him from attacking the young troublemaker, scratched his nose, causing Harry to notice the whisker like marks which donned his cheeks. "Well, since I was born on a day of national mourning no one's ever really noticed my birthday but it's been sixteen years since the attack so I'd have to say 16, why?"

"Because I'm that old and I haven't even finished school yet."

Surprisingly Naruto began to laugh. "That's because you probably don't go to a ninja academy, or you are really, really bad at Ninjutsu!"

"Nin...jutsu?"

"You know, fighting, jutsu, being paid to kill, escort, find cats."

"That is quite enough out of you boy!" hissed Snape, finally recapturing the boys' attention. "Dumbledore wants to question you immediately- and you," He moved his accusing finger to Harry. "Are to be moved to you know where just as quickly." Professor and student shared a death glare before looking away and Harry's expression turning to that of deep angst once more.

Naruto poked his tongue out at the older man making a rude gesture at him before bringing his hands together in some sort of weird form and he smirked. "One more for the road then, eh? HENGE!" There was a puff of white smoke and then instead of Naruto standing there, there was an extremely curvy naked woman. She winked at Snape and said man's head almost exploded before he roared in rage and the now male and clothed teen was chased out of the bathroom laughing his head off.

Harry stared after them in shock before turning his attention to Lupin who's own anger had long since subsided with the humour of Snape in such an awkward situation. The man winked at Harry, surprising laughter of his own and ushered the boy out of the bathroom in a much more amiable manner. It was going to take a little while to get Harry to safety and the Order members where needed elsewhere.

XXOO

Naruto sat in the large and comfortable chair staring at the old man who was staring back at him with equally blue eyes as his own. He had been forced once again to use one of those pore keys and was starting to learn to hate the strange contraption. What was worse was that each time it had been a different object so now he didn't know what would teleport him where if he so much as touched it. The old man pushed his half-moon spectacles back up his long nose and sat back in his seat, seemingly done with his inspection of the boy.

"So your name is Naruto Uzumaki, am I right?"

Naruto smirked and nodded proudly, pointing at his nose. "You bet ya! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the number one loudest ninja in all of hidden leaf!" he half yelled as he always did while introducing himself or talking in general. It wasn't his loudest tone, that was saved for special occasions and when Kakashi was late. It was, however, one of the ways he got people to notice him. The good natured old man simply smiled and his bright blue eyes sparkled.

"Quite fascinating Naruto. I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I can see why they gave you that title, though you are a long way from home if my assumptions are correct. Which Hokage currently resides over Konohagakure? The fourth? The third...?" Dumbledore let the question hang in the air.

Naruto's eye darkened a few shaded as he remembered both Hokages' deaths. "The forth died 16 years ago protecting the village from a demon...The third died some four years ago protecting the village from-holly crap Sasuke! I have to get back right now or I won't be able to help him!"

"I'm afraid that is quite impossible... I knew your third and fourth Hokages and am very sorry to hear of their deaths. I am clueless to where exactly the lost continent you live on is exactly. If you are here though I am very worried... it might mean our enemies are now allies and that would be very bad indeed. Now calm down, who is the current Hokage."

Naruto, unexpectedly even to himself, sat down without kicking up one of his usual huffs. "Her name is Tsunade. She was one of the Sannin..."

"And what is your rank?"

"Chuunin, though I'm not wearing my jacket today because I was chasing Sasuke." This old man reminded him a lot of the third Hokage. They both seemed to have the same sort of aura about them, probably because they were both leaders - and old. "So you don't know anything about Hidden Leaf going back how many years? At least sixteen if you didn't know about the fourth."

Dumbledore rested his chin on his hands, seemingly thinking very hard before he answered. "Well, I was much younger when I stumbled across Konoha. I'd have to say at least twenty years. I was exploring the world in one of my summer holidays and was taken into custody by your fourth and a group of ANBU." He chuckled absently "They were rather cold to begin with I must say. But once I began to talk with them they warmed up to me in the end; especially a youngster by the name of Kakashi."

Naruto snorted with laughter "Nani? You met Kakashi-sensei?"

Dumbledore nodded "So the boy became a teacher. I see the little talk I had with him set him on the same path I took way back when. Oh, and the spell that changed your native language is slipping. We'll have to set it back up before it deteriorates so far you mix Japanese and English so badly you're unintelligible."

Naruto cringed. He didn't like this new form of energy manipulation. Though he had a feeling he would have to learn at least the basics while he was here. His mind wandered back to Sasuke. What was his rival doing now? He hadn't been able to help in the slightest. Anger at himself welled up dangerously for a moment before it settled back down and he grinned in resolution. He would just have to train really hard here and maybe learn something no one back home knew even existed.

A faint laugh broke him out of his thoughts and he looked back at the crystal blue eyes that crinkled in a smile. "Now, I must fill you in about our world."

XXOO

Harry went straight to his room the moment he stepped in the door at Grimwald place. Everything looked much cleaner than it had the last time he had been here. No doubt the Weasley's had already been here for most of the holidays and had finished the cleaning. The pictures of Sirius's family had been covered by a firmer curtain which had been tied down firmly to make it even harder to pull back. He didn't want to see anything right now. This had been the first time he had been here since his godfather's death and it was all too fresh in his mind. There wasn't going to be any Sirius to hug him hello, even if Mrs. Weasley would probably crush him upon finding him here.

He hardly recognised the room when he got there. The two beds were still the same but the wallpaper had been changed and the drapes too. He quickly closed said drapes plunging himself into semi-darkness and flopping down on the bed that wasn't covered in various object. He wasn't really looking forward to seeing his best friend quite so soon, even if he did miss him. He still needed to be alone, just a little longer.

He began to think back on the day. Did he do the right thing about trusting Naruto? What was happening to him right now? Snape had said Dumbledore wanted to talk to him, did that mean he was on their side after all? Sighing, Harry rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "I hope I get to see him again. I want to know who he is…"

"Who who is?"

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice, as it was he sat up too quickly and feel out of bed onto the floor with a loud 'oof'. "Ron! Don't sneak up on me like that!" He snapped rather too harshly and immediately felt bad. He stared at his feet as he stood up and sat back on his bed. "Sorry…"

The redhead simply laughed and sat down next to his friend. "Hey, if I haven't left yet you're in the clear. The amount of times you snapped at me because of all the crap you've been through I'm used to it by now. Sides…" Ron trailed off, deciding not to bring up the subject of his friends deceased godfather. "You alright?" He asked instead. "We heard someone appeared by portkey in your room! Geeze, that'd be freaky enough but you have evil incarnate trying to kill you!"

Yeah thanks, Harry thought bitterly but didn't say anything out loud. He needed friends now more than ever and he didn't want to stuff things up through something small. He hadn't told anyone about the prophecy and he didn't intend to until it became necessary or he had completed his task. He was in a surprisingly good mood after his encounter with Naruto in the hospital bathroom and he went as far as to grin.

"What?" asked Ron, noticing the smile on his face.

Harry hadn't smiled for a while before today and it felt good. "Oh, it's just the guy who arrived in my room gave Snape a nose bleed. Who knew that the potions master was a pervert." He knew that sounded wrong unless you actually saw the event. Snape was most certainly not gay by the way he had reacted to the sight of a naked woman but at the same time it was the truth. Let Ron think what he wanted; it was no skin off his back.

Ron himself burst out laughing. Causing Harry to smile again. "Well I guess I should go down and greet people. Your mum here?"

Ron nodded happily and both boys got up and began down the stairs.

XXOO

A month!

It had been a month since he had been transported here and he wasn't about to be going home any time soon. Naruto held the thin piece of wood in his hand and gave it a swish and flick, saying the incantation and watching as the feather began to rise up into the air. A month of learning basic spells, a month of constantly having the language spell cast on him, and a month since he had seen that Potter boy. He didn't know why he wanted to see Harry again, the boy just intrigued him, but most of all he reminded him vaguely of Sasuke. They had the same air of hatred around them. The old man hadn't told him anything about the other and he was starting to get annoyed.

Maybe he's an avenger too…He thought absently. Yeah, that'd make sense…

"Naruto, we're going to Diagon Alley today to get your things for school." said the old woman who had been teaching him today. Professor McGonagall pursed her lips at the idea. They had already discovered that he was a force to be reckoned with and she had lost him more than once when he was in her care. "But you are not going to run off today. You have a 'mission' as Albus puts it."

At this Naruto perked up. Seems the old man was trying to make him feel more at home giving him something to do. "What, Old lady McGonagall?" he asked, practically brimming with excitement.

"Well…"


	2. Yume

"So if I want to stay at Hogwarts I have to follow you around all year." Naruto finished as he looked over at the green eyed boy next to him. "The sorting hat said I'd be in Griffindor anyway even if I didn't have to be and the Old Man said he'd pay for all my things if I protected you, though I just need books and supplies for 'Potions'. Magic doesn't seem that hard, even if I have only been learning for a month. What do you think about this arrangement? You seem like a nice enough guy. And even if you aren't I've had plenty of experience with the cold and angsty type that I'm used to it now. Actually that's what my best friend back home is like…"

Harry listened intently to the Blond's rant like chatter. Did he ever shut up when he wasn't injured?

"So what's your story? Why do you need a bodyguard in the first place? The Old Man said you needed to tell me yourself. What do ya think I'm up against if you do get attacked?"

Harry looked surprised. Why wouldn't Dumbledore tell Naruto about Voldemort? Why did he have to do it? Wait a minute, did he just say he'd only been learning magic for a month! "Why do I have a magically ignorant kid my own age assigned to be my body guard?" He half yelled and pushed Naruto into flourish and blots, blushing madly at the stares they received.

"Because I'm a Ninja!" protested the blond just as loudly. Thankfully there were only a few people in the shop at the time.

"Ninjas are extinct!"

"No they're not! I'm a Ninja! Most my village are Ninja! Most the villages around my village contain mostly Ninja! So don't tell me there are no Ninja left because that's exactly what I thought about Wizards before I came here." His voice had lowered in volume as he went so he ended in a deathly whisper, eyes being shadowed by his fringe. They had made him take off his forehead protector so as not to draw attention so he had nothing to keep it out of his eyes. "I can't get back home and for all I know everything I hold dear could be gone, destroyed by one of my most precious people because of his hatred of his brother. So don't tell me anything you don't know for sure."

Harry took a step away from the blond. The shift in mood had been too drastic. This was the first time he had seen the boy this serious and the venom in his voice was harsh, so uncharacteristic.

Naruto, realising his slip bit his lip. "Sorry…I didn't mean to be so mean. I'm just worried…I don't like not knowing what's going on. The Old Man can't even contact my home town let alone get me back there. Anyway, what's your story? You didn't answer me before. Oh, and I am quite capable of hiding you, even if I cannot defeat your enemies. I've been at this for years."

Harry still didn't trust that the boy was as strong as he said he was but the power he had radiated in his moment of anger had been frightening. Maybe… "When I was one year old my parents were killed by an evil wizard named Voldemort. He tried to kill me too but his spell backfired and he was killed instead. Only he wasn't human enough to be killed entirely and last year he returned in the flesh and has been gathering followers ever since while trying to kill me on the side. The ministry of magic only just recognised his return after a whole bloody year of me telling them that he was back!"

"Well that's pretty slack. Even if I told the Hokage one of our enemies had returned we'd get immediate action. And I'm the most unpopular kid in the whole village! At least they seem to like you to a degree. You don't get the hate filled eyes I get back home." He only muttered the last sentence but Harry still heard it.

"And what's your story? Why do people hate you back where you come from?"

Naruto viably stiffened. He didn't want to tell anyone in this place about Kyuubi. He could go wherever he liked and not be shunned or glared at. He could just be himself and no one would resent him for something he didn't do. "Don't ask because I'm not going to tell you."

Harry's eyes narrowed. He'd told him about Voldemort and his parents, and yet he wouldn't trust him with his past. But if he doesn't want to tell you then it must be something really bad and not something he likes to share, reasoned a voice in the back of his head and he gave in, sighing.

"Don't worry, even my team mates don't know…I don't want anyone who doesn't already know to know. It's just nice to get away from that here." said Naruto, placing his hands behind his head and giving a dazzling, vulpine grin. "So what books do we need? You have the list; the Old Man said I should use yours to save paper since we're obviously doing the same subjects."

Once again shocked by the sudden change of mood, Harry fumbled around in his pocket for the paper. They had already been to Gringotts, the Wizarding bank (in which time Naruto had filled in Harry on the arrangements of their lives for however long Naruto was there) and were set to go about their shopping. It was only now that Harry realised there were no guards other than the one boy who had been chattering for the last half hour. Dumbledore must trust him more than I thought! Geeze, is he really that powerful?

"Can you read it out to me Harry? The spell may let me read for a little while but it's not quite as effective at letting me read after a while, even if my speech isn't impaired." Naruto said sheepishly.

"There's only two books on the list this year. Standard book of spells grade 6 and Ancient Monsters. You can probably get the other books second hand if you need them, though I doubt it." They made their way up to the man at the front desk and bought their book in the matter of minutes. This early in the afternoon on a Thursday probably wasn't ever really busy.

"So what do we do now?" Asked Naruto once they had gotten all their supplies (for potions and general stationary). He loved this street. It was so cheerful, even if it was wartime. Having experienced war many a time in his sixteen years he was used to the brave outward front people produced in protected places. An effort, he knew, which was aimed to take minds off thoughts of disaster. "Can we have something to eat? When are we getting picked up by the Order?"

"Crud! We have about three minutes to get to the meeting point!" gasped Harry as he checked the time on his new watch; an unexpected gift from Mrs. Figg for his sixteenth birthday.

Naruto smirked, and turned so his back faced the other. "Get on and I'll have us there in ten seconds."

Harry raised an eyebrow and let out a harsh laugh. "Yeah right. No one can run that fast."

"Really? Get on and I'll show you."

Harry rolled his eyes but after making sure no one in the near deserted street was watching, climbed onto the other boy's back. He didn't think he'd ever been carried like this before. Not when he was conscience anyway. He clung to Naruto's shoulders and felt him tense. Then in one swift movement they were in the air. One story, two, they cleared the roof. Jumping from roof to roof as he did in trees they speed towards the predetermined meeting point and were there in seven seconds flat, landing gracefully in the cobble stone street. Naruto dropped Harry on the ground not so gracefully and crossed his arms, poking out his tongue in a not-so-adolescent manner. Harry himself just stared at the childish teen as if he had grown a second head. "How-wha-ok I now that wasn't normal."

"It is where I come from. I told you I was a-"

"Mr Uzumaki!" interrupted a not-so-pleasant sounding woman, lips pursed into a thin and angry line. "What did I lecture you on for twenty whole minutes this morning!"

"But Old Lady McGonagall-"

"No buts Naruto, you were explicitly told not to use your powers in public. That includes that speed of yours."

"But-"

"I said no buts, now we're using floo powder to get back to Hogwarts. Mr Potter, you are not catching the train this year, rather you are now going to come straight there with Mr Uzumaki and I. The train is unsafe for you in particular."

Harry nodded rather unenthusiastically. He didn't feel like arguing though, especially after being shown up by Naruto. He wanted to hang out with Ron some more but that wasn't going to happen for another few days since school was still two days away. With a sigh Harry followed behind the transfiguration teacher with Naruto bring up the rear. Oh well, back to gloomy old Harry.

XXOO

Teachers started to arrive the next day to plan the next few months of their jobs, effectively shunning the two teens allowing them to wander unhindered through the humongous castle that was Hogwarts during the daylight hours. Naruto, having lived there for a month already knew every nook and cranny, including the various hidden passageways scattered here and there. Being the ninja he was he couldn't help but memorising any and all ways to hide, run away or get places easier to be more efficient in his work now that he actually had a job to use them in.

The tamed Thestrals that inhabited the forbidden forest had seemed to have taken a liking to the blond because of his training in the forest and every now and then would wander a little ways out from the trees, to see if he was going to visit them that day. Once he had asked the gentle half giant Hagrid about them he often brought fresh meat with him so they wouldn't lick at any wounds he inflicted upon himself accidentally. Incidentally that was how they had meet when the youth had passed out from over exertion. Today was no different except for the fact that Naruto brought Harry with him to see the beasts.

Harry followed his bodyguard out into the grounds wordlessly, having been given explicate instructions not to leave the other's side for more than a moment. He didn't know why they were heading down this far after passing Hagrid's hut until he saw at least five Thestrals waiting just beyond the trees. He faulted, pausing for a moment in shock at seeing them again before the ghost of a smile curved his lips. Now he knew what was in the bag Naruto was carrying.

Naruto's own mouth widened in a grin and he jogged the last few yards to pet the first of them to nudge him with their skeletal noses. All of them seemed to want to get to him at once and soon he found himself almost bombarded by all of the creatures until he ran back a few steps and dumped the contents of the sack onto the ground. Several skinned rabbits fell to the ground and the Thestrals dived on them instead of the Chuunin. Naruto walked back to Harry, dusting off his hands having discarded the bag for the moment.

"You can see them?" Asked Harry, slightly bewildered at how friendly they were being to the boy. "Who'd you see die?" He didn't care about how blunt he sounded. He wanted to know.

"The first one…? I've lost count of how many people I've seen die. And how many people I've killed myself for that matter. You must remember I'm a ninja. It is just a part of being a ninja to have to kill someone. In the words of the first person I saw die 'I can destroy my kind heart with a blade, and become a true Shinobi.' His name was Haku and even if we were enemies he taught me one of the more important things I've ever learnt. He died protecting his most precious person. That was his dream, like mine is to become the leader of my village and have everyone acknowledge me. How about you?" Naruto finished, testing the wizard's reaction upon learning he had actually killed people.

Harry accepted that Naruto was a ninja now, having witnessed first hand the other's speed and transformations. That he had killed was just another thing about him. Harry would have to kill eventually, or be killed himself. "My rival…In my fourth year I was caught up in a competition I didn't want to be in and he was the other participant from Hogwarts. I was transported by a portkey to a graveyard and Voldemort's henchman killed him." Harry was numb to this story now, having repeated it so many times in his mind. No longer did it have that heart wrenching effect on him."

"Well this is a sort of morbid consolation prize. They are pretty cool though." Once again the grin was back on Naruto's face as he watched the Thestrals devour the last of the meat. "Now, I have to tell you exactly what I can do."

At this Harry perked up. "You mean besides transforming into other people without a potion and super speed?" He asked with a smirk. This guy was so cocky.

Naruto glared playfully at the other and crossed the middle and forefingers of both hands to form a plus sign. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He yelled and in puffs of white smoke fifteen Narutos surrounded the black haired teen. The original stepped forwards, rubbing his nose slightly sheepishly. "Opps, didn't mean to make so many. Anyway this is a move advanced replication technique. Unlike just plain bunshin these are real flesh copies rather than just an illusion, see." To prove his point he called forth one of the clones and clapped it on the shoulder.

"And this is the Rasengan!" Light blue energy began to form in his left hand, guided by the hands of his clone into a ball of rotating light. Harry stared transfixed on the orb and didn't even register when the Thestrals fled back into the forest. All the clones disappeared the same way they had come as Naruto trust his hand forward and rammed a pine tree with the attack. For a moment nothing happened then it began to bore right into the thick trunk of the tree. With a defiant crack the injured plant then began to fall down landing inches from Naruto, who had had to jump out of the way.

Harry was flabbergasted, how the crap did he do that? "What…the…?"

Naruto crossed his arms smugly. "It only took me few months to learn that! Even the fourth Hokage took longer then I did!" he proclaimed proudly, brimming with said emotion. "I mould and control the energy in the ball, keep it at full power and then attack whatever needs to be attacked. Combine that with my clones and I'm almost unstoppab-!"

"You ruddy kid, Naruto! Not another one!"

Naruto slowly and rigidly turned his head to face the half giant running down the hill. Grabbing Harry and throwing him onto his back he only paused long enough for Harry to get a good hold before running away. Vaguely Harry heard the last of Hagrid's loud shouts, "I told you not to cut down any more of the trees with that darned shiny orb!" before he was out of sight and they were racing down the corridors headed for the common room where Naruto knew Hagrid couldn't follow.

Flopping down on one of the armchairs by the fire after depositing Harry in another, Naruto let out a loud laugh. "At least there'll be lots of firewood." He said unperturbed by Hagrid's anger.

"Will you stop carrying me around like some child!" Harry grumbled sinking into his chair. He didn't like it now that he was over the others speed. "It's degrading."

"Well excuse me if I wanted to run away from a huge angry half-giant!" Naruto retorted. "I'd rather not be beat around the head by Hagrid, even if I am a ninja."

"Hey! He wasn't angry at me! If you hadn't cut down the tree in the first place showing off-"

"Oh yeah, I was showing you my skills so you'd know how I could protect you and you wouldn't freeze if I did something new!"

"I can protect my damn self!"

"Then why does everyone baby you all the time, protect you like you're some sort of porcelain doll! I tell you I'm sick of people treating the high and mighty orphans like gods! What about the discarded orphans, hu! What about the ones who grew up with nothing and still have just that!" Naruto froze, blue eyes wide as he realised what he'd just said. He moved his head to the side, turning his face so that his eyes were out of Harry's view.

Harry glared at the other boy who had gone uncharacteristically quiet. Didn't he remember that Harry himself had spent ten years in the hell that was his aunt and uncles' care? But then again, Harry had been taken away from all that. What exactly was Naruto's story? Quickly his anger faded as he remembered the loneliness he'd experienced as a child. As much as he hated to admit it, he could relate to the blond shinobi. "Naruto," He started but was stopped as said boy stood up.

"I'm going to bed. Don't stay down here on your own too long. I don't want to fail my mission on the second day." And with that he left for the sixth year boys' bedroom leaving Harry to mull over the argument.


	3. Ikebana

The train came in at precisely seven in the evening the next day. Harry and Naruto were made to sit at the huge Gryffindor table before the students even began to file into the great hall and both felt the scrutinising gases they received. For once Harry was not the main topic of conversation, most of the students wondering about Naruto. Who was this boy, what was he doing here? A couple of the girls even whispered about how cute this new guy was, at which Naruto blushed lightly, a foxy grin plastered on his face.

He had not as yet mentioned their spat from the night before and had greeted Harry with the utmost cheerfulness in the morning, displaying an unhealthy amount of energy at the time of day he had woken Harry so he could go train. Harry had then spent the entire morning watching Naruto work out his body until the blond had complained about being hungry. Naruto had complained loudly until he had received Ramen, his favourite food as he boasted proudly, and then the rest of the day had been spent with Naruto learning new spells and Harry reading the standard book of spells grade 6.

He had to admit, for only learning magic for a month, the kid was already good at it. He had already mastered all of the basic things that needed to be learnt to just pass up to the fourth year.

"Harry!" Exclaimed a happy voice behind him and he turned to see Hermione racing up to them looking thoroughly relieved. She stopped, hands clasped over her chest in front of the pair before noticing Naruto. Ninja and girl stared at each other for a long moment seemingly sizing each other up before Harry broke the silence. "Oh, Hermione, Ron," He added the others name as he too walked up to the table, "Meet Naruto Uzumaki. He's moved here from Japan." And that would be their cover story since they weren't allowed to say anything about it out loud in such a crowded room.

Instantly Hermione's eyes lit up and she smiled politely, thrusting her hand out for the chuunin to shake. "Nice to meet you, Naruto! I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ronald Weasley"

"Ron Weasley." Put in Ron, embarrassed by Hermione's use of his full name. He too shook Naruto's hand and then the duo sat themselves down opposite Naruto and Harry. "So you're that kid, eh?" Asked Ron in a whisper, leaning over closer to Naruto so none of their other friends who were starting to sit down around them could hear.

Naruto nodded, his grin becoming lopsided. "Nice to meet you two, too. I guess my stay here won't be so bad if I'm to hang around people like you guys."

"Your English is so good! Not even an accent!"

Naruto waved it off, "Na, I'm under a spell. I only knew a few random words of English and I didn't even know what language I was speaking. The move was unexpected to say the least."

"You'll have to fill us in tomorrow night in the common room. After the feast we'll be too tired and we don't want to be late for breakfast tomorrow; we get our timetables and then have to go to class." Said Hermione in an overly perky way to talk about school work. Harry and Ron just groaned while Naruto looked curious. This girl seemed to like learning as much as Sakura did.

Before anything else could be said Dumbledore called for hush and the first years entered for the sorting. The sorting hat's song this year wasn't nearly so extravagant as in all the years Harry had heard it. Just four lines of verse:

_In times like these_

_Were darkness looms_

_Together we will triumph_

_Separate we will loose_

Those four lines, though, weighed heavily on the students as it sank in. Naruto nodded his head slightly, that had been the point of Kakashi's first ever test on team 7. Teamwork had been an important factor to him for years, always working with one person or another in missions. Naruto came back to reality just as the last name was called (Zhanders, Emily) and Dumbledore stood up.

"Dear students! Hello and welcome to or back to Hogwarts! I see none of our number is missing as of yet, good, good. I would like to start by introducing our newest Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Yamiko Hino." Gesturing to his left and down a bit along the teachers table a woman stood up at the introduction. She was slender and looked very Asian and somewhat frail, unlike Naruto who didn't look Asian at all. Her dark hair was cropped to her shoulders, framing her pale face elegantly. She smiled regally and passed a hand over the crowd in a small wave of greeting. She didn't say anything before sitting down again and staying almost perfectly still while she looked out at the school.

"Also I will remind you all" continued Dumbledore "that the forbidden forest is indeed as its name suggests, forbidden unless accompanied by a teacher. Also a new rule, no one is to be outside after classes have finished for the day. If you cannot see a teacher, go back inside and lastly, please, I beg all of you to be very careful this year. The temptation of evil for some is too hard to resist. Do not give in to Lord Voldemort's will!" With that said and done the feast appeared filling up tables with steaming plates of almost any food you could think of. The house elves, much to Naruto's delight, had put ramen on the menu this year and said boy instantly dug into his favourite food like the Thestrals had ravaged the rabbits the day before.

Hermione began to fill in Harry on her holidays, Ron having already heard all there was to tell on the train. He listened for a little while but eventually zoned out. Her chatter was just mindless anyway, not like he would get a quiz on what she did during the summer. His eyes wandered to the teachers table, drifting past Professor Flitwick lingered on Snape and then settled on Professor Hino. She wasn't talking with anyone else like all the other teachers were, she just played with the dumplings on her plate with the chopsticks in her elegant and pale hand. Then she looked up and their eyes met for a single second before a loud clatter brought him back to his table and he turned to Naruto who had dropped his knife and fork.

Naruto laughed and picked up the offending cutlery. "Gomen, gomen. I'm still not used to using these. It doesn't help being a klutz and I'm a slow learner when it comes to things like this." Fixing his hold on said items he went back to eating the roast beef Hermione had made him try. If Harry hadn't known better he would have been sure the other was shaking slightly, but Naruto had nothing to be scared of.

"Oh, yes, you would have used chopsticks your whole life, right? What do you normally eat?" Hermione asked, always one for gathering knowledge.

"Well I usually just eat ramen all the time because it's my favourite food but sometimes Iruka-sensei makes me eat something else like dumplings, but we still use chopsticks for that."

"'Sensei? That's 'teacher' in Japanese, isn't it?"

No longer caring for the conversation once more Harry returned his focus back to Professor Hino who was now chatting politely with Professor Sprout on her left. Before Harry could think any further into it though, the food disappeared and everyone left to go to bed.

Harry and Naruto made their way up to their dormitory with the other Gryffindor 6th year boys who had all taken a shining to the teenaged shinobi. Every time Naruto met a new person Harry found it harder and harder to believe that the other boy could possibly be mass despised by his entire village to the point that he got hate filled glares. Naruto's life before coming here was still basically an enigma and the Ninja had made an effort to keep it that way, not even telling Dumbledore too much about himself. This fact made him wonder what made the old Headmaster trust the teen so much as to trust Harry's own life with him.

The boys were all too tired to talk as they changed into their pyjamas and got into bed. Sleep came quickly to all concerned and Harry was left to his dastardly dreams about evil that was yet to come.

XXOO

"Double charms, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts." Quoted Harry as he read his schedule for the day. "Damn, we don't get to see what the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is like 'til the end of the day."

Naruto tilted his head to the side questioningly, his bright blue eyes wide making him look like a child wanting something explained to them that they didn't quite understand. It made Hermione laughed before she answered. "Every year since we came here there has been a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. First year there was Quirril, Harry disintegrated him," She began to tick them off in her fingers, "Second year there was Lockheart, he was a phoney who got rich and famous off other peoples deeds and got hit by one of his own memory charms when he tried to use Ron's broken wand to spell Harry and Ron. Third year was by far the best with Lupin as our teacher."

"I know him," piped in Naruto, waving one hand in the air like he wanted to answer a question. "He came to check on Harry when I ap-er-came to visit unexpectedly."

"I think I heard about that from him too." Hermione smiled. "Anyway, fourth year when things started to get bad we had Moody, or rather we thought it was Moody. He actually turned out to be some crazy supporter of Voldemort-Ron I thought we were over this." She scolded as the red headed teen flinched slightly at mention of the dark lord's name. He muttered a small 'sorry' before going back to eating his bacon and Hermione continued her explanation. "He was the one who got Harry to the graveyard, oh dear, has he told you the story yet?" When Naruto nodded she looked relieved. "Yes, well, Fifth year we had this toad of a woman called Umbridge."

"Hey! I like toads, I'm friends with quite a lot of them."

"Well I'm sorry but there is no other way of describing her and what do you mean you're friends with toads?"

"I'll tell you later, alright. It's not really a story I should be telling here."

"Oh, ok…Well she ended up being chased out of the school. Oh the crazy bunch of Defence Against the Dark Arts teaches we've had…" She trailed off at the end with an odd mix of amusement and disgust on her face.

"I only ever had one creepy teacher and he tried to kill me after tricking me into stealing a forbidden scroll."

Harry could barely contain his laughter as he recalled the way Naruto had actually stolen the scroll and the effect the same technique had had on the potions master. Hermione looked at him oddly but obviously wasn't going to interrupt him. She had not heard him laugh in months so he knew she wasn't about to risk blowing it. Oddly enough it was just the effect Naruto had on him. His mere presence seemed to bring up his mood. She then gave a questioning glance at Naruto who merely gave the same excuse he had given the toads.

"We'd better be off if we want to get to class." He said in his annoyingly cheerful tone.

By the time they reached Defence Against the Dark Arts Naruto was in desperate need of a few laps around the lake. He had never had to sit still and pay attention to anything for so long before, let alone something as complex and new to him as sixth year magic. He'd only had about an hour in total to exert his energy outside and that had been interrupted by Hermione, Ron and the other sixth years asking him various questions about his life back home.

Much to his displeasure the perverted greasy man who he had given a nose bleed to back when he had first came here seemed to be the type to hold a grudge and taught potions. He had spent the entire session trying to read the writing on the board which got harder as he went. Cooking, which is what potions appeared to be, was never one of Naruto's strong points as he had always just eaten cup ramen. No one in his childhood years ever cared enough about him to teach him how to cook, even if he did live on his own. Who would want to bother with the 'brat', the 'demon'? He would never amount to anything, would probably even die on his first mission and be out of their hair forever.

Naruto scowled at the front of the room at his memories, the curtains were drawn, only letting in the barest minimum of light making it near impossible for him to be able to see the blackboard, even if he wanted to. He was over classes for the day and was very tempted to leave a clone in his seat and go train. But then he would be abandoning his mission and that was one thing he just wouldn't do, even if he had to sit through hours of sitting still.

The mood in the room was bad to say the least. The room could have rivalled the dungeons or even professor Trelawney's divination tower in its dark aura. It permanently put you on edge, which, Naruto presumed, was a good thing in a class where you were supposed to learn how to defend yourself from the unexpected.

"Good afternoon class…" Breezed Professor Hino as she glided from writing on the blackboard to stand in front of the mass of students. Her movements were rather slow and exact. As if she followed the code of the Geisha. Her voice, too, was somewhat distant, every word pronounced so it was impossible to mistake. "If you do not remember, my name is Professor Yamiko Hino and I am to teach you this year…" Quickly she scanned the class then a small smile crossed her dark lips. "I can see I may be able to have some fun with this class in the year to come. This year I will take you deeper into the dark arts then even your fourth year teacher took you. I have studied what I was told you have learnt and devised a plan for the year for optimal improvement. First we will start off with the text book I asked you to all buy. I trust you all have a copy each." After a quick round of nods from the class she went on. "Then for homework I will ask you to read pages 40 to 45 and memorizes at least ten facts about the monster covered on them. For class today though we will begin work on the theory of the first spell I am to teach you…"

And so the class went, and Naruto got boreder and boreder until finally the bell went and they were able to retire for the day.

XXOO

Naruto was unable to train that day because of all the homework they had been set and his promise to update Hermione and Ron on his situation. He already had an essay to write in Potions that only he got to 'assess your level of skill in this field' as the potions master had said. Though he knew it was just revenge. Making a mental note to put something slimy Down Snape's robes and make it look like a Slytherin had done it he took out his parchment and, spell renewed, began to write using notes Hermione had lent him. They had already had their little chat and Hermione had insisted that he show her the summoning jitsu, almost screaming when the chubby toad had demanded food in Japanese which Naruto found he could not understand. The spell really did change his native language. Shivering at how cold it was getting as the sun's light disappeared completely he moved himself a bit closer to the fire.

Harry was now being bombarded by his two friends with questions about his summer and any further knowledge about their newest companion.

"This is simply amazing don't you think?" asked Hermione once they had squeezed every last drop of information out of Harry.

"Yeah! It's not every day you get to meet a ninja! I mean he knows how to replicate himself and everything!" added Ron enthusiastically. "And change his appearance and blow things up and make frogs appear."

Harry sighed and leant back in his armchair, it was getting pretty late now and all of the students below the fifth year had already gone to bed, along with the morning people leaving them almost alone in the common room. "Yeah…but that he has to follow me around all year…"

Naruto's ear twitched visibly but he didn't say anything. Abandoning his half written essay that he still had another night to write he reached for his copy of Ancient Monsters, reapplied the language spell he had been taught a few days ago so he didn't have to keep finding teachers to do it and began flipping through it to find the pages he had to read.

"But it is for your own good Harry. I mean having someone to protect you this year sounds like a good idea. This year's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher seems normal but we've had too many shifty ones to not be suspicious of foul play." reasoned Hermione.

"And then you have the fact that you get to be near a ninja until he goes." Ron crossed his arms. "And he's hanging around us as well. At least you're not only in his company."

"I s'pose…"

The book dropped to the ground with a loud thud and the three friends spun in their seats to find Naruto doubled over and gagging, red beginning to seep through the gaps in his fingers that covered his mouth. Ron swore loudly being the first to react and he and Harry jumped forward to the shinobi's side. Hermione broke away from her frozen state of shock and quickly headed for the exit, opening it and yelling for the boys to help the wounded walk so they could get him to the hospital wing.

Just before they left Harry glanced at the text book laying open on the floor to see if it could have possibly provoked this. "Page 40." He read softly, "Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine tailed demon fox."


	4. Yuki

They didn't get very far before they ran into Professor McGonagall and got the much needed assistance of a magical stretcher. Naruto had passed out and Harry and Ron wouldn't have been able to carry him the whole way, even if he was quite light. Reaching the Hospital wing in record time Hermione went to wake up Madam Pomfrey while the teacher helped her students place the ninja on one of the sterile white beds, making sure he was on his side in case he started coughing up blood again. The matron, quite annoyed at being woken up but still worried for the well being of the teen, ushered everyone back as she examined her patient.

It took a while for her to go through each and every possible cause and soon she was forced to say it was stress induced. She couldn't find anything else wrong with him. It was only after looking inside of his ears that she noticed the predominant whisker marks of his cheeks. Running her fingers along one of them it felt bumpy, like a real whisker was trying to break through. Her heart was beating faster now. Naruto let out a small whimper like cry and tried to curl himself into a ball in his unconscious state. Madam Pomfrey stopped him, drawing up his shirt and gasping at what she saw. Yanking the garment back down again her head snapped around to face Professor McGonagall, eyes wide. "Please take the young ones back to their dormitory and get Albus down here immediately!"

Harry and the others were of course not amused to be shunned off like this. "But we want to stay with Naruto!" Complained Ron loudly, earning him a humbling glare from the nurse.

Harry didn't complain and followed silently, deep in thought.

"Harry! Aren't you going to protest!" asked Hermione shrewdly. Harry just shook his head. He had been able to see what had made Madam Pomfrey on edge. All over Naruto's stomach had been dark lines, too precise to be tattoos, more like fresh ink lines. That was defiantly not normal and he had a feeling they would find answers in Ancient Monsters, pages 40 to 45.

"We have to do our Defence Against the Dark Arts homework." He whispered with a meaningful look at his friends. Comprehension dawned on both their faces and they too quieted down and went without a fight.

XXOO

Kyuubi thrashed against its cage, each impact causing injury both to itself and its vessel.

Naruto had wanted to stay awake but the demon hadn't let him, it had called him to its cage and that was where he stood, fighting off new waves of nausea and pain that threatened his real body.

"DAMMIT FOX! What are you doing this time? If you kill me then you die too!" he screamed, fear and rage mingling together.

Sickening laughter rang throughout the chamber and the Kyuubi stopped its thrashing for long enough to focus its blood red eyes on the boy it was sealed inside. "I'm trying to escape. If I weaken you then I'll have more of a chance."

Naruto, now quivering slightly, stood his ground as the huge fox rammed itself into the cage bars, trying to bite the seal that kept them closed only to receive a shock that made it reel back. "I'm the only one who can set you free remember. And I refuse to do so. We've been through this already so stop trying to break free!" He couldn't help but let out a small whimper of pain and double over as the Demon rammed particularly hard into the side of its cage. He knew the fox would tire itself out soon, then it would take a few weeks to heal from this because of the seal that also bound almost all of its power. It was just a matter of waiting it out and not giving in beforehand. Though he had to admit, some of Kyuubi's previous escape attempts had been worse than this one. When he was 14 he had almost give in to the attack on his insides. That had been the first escape attempt that he could remember, this was the fifth.

The youth assumed it was because it could sense that it was beginning to fuse with him, as his power grew, its declined and by the time he had grown fully he presumed that the Kyuubi would just be an almost useless shell. When he died it would disappear too. Cursing puberty, the Kyuubi, and the fourth Hokage who put him in this situation in the first place he sat down to wait out the rest of the attack.

OO

"Kyuubi no Kistune, the nine tailed demon fox, is the first of the Japanese elemental Demons covered in this section of Ancient Monsters. Containing the power of fire it lived in the hidden leaf territory of the lost ninja continent." Read Harry. He was pretty sure by now that this was what had set Naruto off.

"That's were Naruto's from!" Exclaimed Hermione. "So this does have something to do with him. You were right Harry!"

Nodding he went on. "'Staying in hiding for years, the reason for it to finally surface and attack the Hidden Village of Leaf sixteen years ago is unknown…' Almost seventeen now by the publishing date." Skimming down past a description of the battle. "'…when it was finally defeated by the great Fourth Hokage, co leader of Konohagakure at the time. The full details of the defeat are undisclosed, on the insistence of the Third Hokage. It is just known that the Fourth used a forbidden Jutsu (ninja technique) that sacrificed his own life in the process…" Harry bit his lip. "Maybe his parents were killed in that attack and that's why he's an orphan." like me… he added mentally.

Hermione nodded. "That seems plausible. Maybe he was mistreated because he had no parents to look after him."

"But that doesn't explain why people hated him so much like Harry said they did." Said Ron, flipping through his own copy of the text book to the last page on the Kyuubi. It was mainly filled with information on why else it was famous, what it ate and some more information about the lost ninja continent. How they managed to fill up five page on it they did not know.

"Maybe…" muttered Harry. He was getting tired and they had school tomorrow. "Hey, let's sleep on it, alright."

"You're right, it's getting quite late and I don't want to be tired on a school day." Hermione stood up, fixing her robes and made her way to her Dormitory.

"C'mon Harry, I'm sure Naruto'll be fine after a good nights sleeee-" Ron Cut himself off with a gigantic yawn. Harry followed him up to their dorm and careful not to wake the other boys sleeping there they too went to bed.

XXOO

The moment Naruto opened his eyes he closed them again, scrunching himself up into the smallest ball he could. It was dark outside, indicating that it was still night, which night he didn't know but he assumed too much time hadn't passed. The waves of sickness that followed the Kyuubi's futile trashing were slowly beginning to pass and were down to bearable levels while he was awake now. What made him assume a fetal position and hold back tears though was the group of adults gathered around his bed. He could feel their eyes boring into him, fear and anger radiating around them. Now that the Kyuubi was starting to merge with him he was starting to gain sharper senses and somewhat of a sixth one which allowed him to tell the aura of his surroundings to a point.

His strategy wasn't as effective as he would have liked. All of them knew he was awake the moment his breathing started to speed up and he moved. "You know I have a seal then…" He asked almost inaudibly, but in the silent room they all heard.

"Yes." Came the sharp reply from Madam Pomfrey. "And it's in the breaking down process when whatever is sealed starts to merge with its host."

"So I s'pose you're going to ask me to leave…or kill me like all the people back home who know want to…?" If they did try to kill him he knew he could evade them, but then he would be in this strange world all by himself. For a moment he struggled with himself as to whether or not he would run if they attacked but then he remembered Sasuke. He had to save him from Orochimaru's influence.

There was a startled gasp from one of the women present at his comment, but Naruto couldn't recognise the voice. There was a long pause before anyone chose to reply. "Not if you co-operate with us and take a small test. We need to make absolutely sure you tell us the truth."

Naruto laughed dryly. "Don't trust me so much now, do you Old Man…? It's always the same, but I'll take whatever damn test you want." He sat up, fixing his bright blue eyes on the equally bright pair of Dumbledore. "If it means I can throw it back in your faces when I pass and prove to you all that I'm not a monster like you all believe me to be now. I know that's what you're thinking, you all reek of fear and anger. Thinking I could get away from those eyes, I truly am a Baka…"

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment with some unknown emotion before he handed a small bottle of some clear liquid to the teen. Naruto downed it in one gulp and settled into the trance it induced.

"What is your name and where do you come from."

"I am Uzumaki Naruto and I come from the Hidden Village of Leaf."

"What is sealed inside you?"

"The Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine tailed demon fox."

"Why?"

"It attacked Konoha the day I was born. The fourth sealed it inside of me because he couldn't destroy it."

"Do you intend any of the students or teachers at this school harm?"

"Only if they try to kill my important people or charges."

"How deep is your bond with the demon?" Someone who Naruto guessed was Professor Sprout asked a little jittery.

"It can call me to its chamber when it has enough power. I can also bring myself there when I am in great peril. I can call forth and use its Chakra freely when I want, but do not like relying on it. It is beginning to merge with me. It also sees what I see, feels what I feel. It lives my life as a passenger."

"What happened tonight to cause you to collapse?"

"It saw its name in the text book and tried to escape again. If it thrashes in its cage it can cause physical damage to me. My stressed out body couldn't fight back very well so I gained more damage than normal, causing me to actually bring up blood. It thinks if it can hurt me enough it can escape. If it kills me it will die too but it can try to make me break the seal by causing me great pain…" His gaze turned even more far away then it already was.

"And finally, why didn't you tell me at the beginning?"

At this there was a hesitant pause, even if he was under the influence of the potion. "I fear that those eyes, the ones filled with hate will follow me wherever I go because of this curse…I grew up neglected, without a friend in the world and when I finally found out why I wanted to keep it a secret to everyone who didn't already know. It is my one hope that my friends never find out what I carry within me so that they will never look at me with those eyes. My friends are everything to me…"

He was given the anti potion but remained staring off into space, a glare planted firmly on his face. "Happy now? You all know my secret and it won't take long for the word to spread that I'm a demon. I'm not going to hurt any of you so leave me alone now. You've all had your fun, leave the demon alone…" Naruto pulled his legs up to hug his knees and buried his head in them. He wasn't going to cry, he had made the decision long ago, even before he became a ninja that he wouldn't cry about it anymore. This was just the most comforting position he had discovered. He could block out the world so it was just him and he couldn't see any of them. He couldn't be despised.

He heard the teachers depart him, the mood heavy but Naruto couldn't tell what with. He felt a hand on his shoulder but didn't look up. "You're not what you carry. Please, take care of Harry for me. This old coot has made too many mistakes in his lifetime, help me not to make another one." And with those words the hand was gone and he was left along.

XXOO

"Good morning!" Was the ecstatic greeting the worried trio received when they went down to breakfast the next day. The source of their worry being the greeter. He looked in perfect health as he bounded over to them, blond hair as wild as ever. "Sorry about collapsing like that last night. They thought that I had something seriously wrong with me when they sent you away but it was just that the Kyuubi almost destroyed my village and killed my parents…at least I think it did, no one actually told me who they were, anyway that coupled with all the stress I've been under lately my body just couldn't take anymore and decided to crap up." Naruto explained hurriedly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry if I scared you three and made you worry about me. But I heal quickly and am fine now."

Hermione smiled, just glad he was back to full health. Ron laughed and patted their new friend on the back. Harry forced a smile too but inwardly he was doubting the story they were being told. It didn't explain the odd lines on his stomach. He'd ask later, when they were alone.

"It means more classes today though. Man those are boring. I've never had to sit still for so long while paying attention, though I can bear it because of all the training I got back home. Speaking of which Harry I have to train today, is there a room inside the school I can do it since we aren't allowed to go outside after classes are done for the day?"

Absently Harry nodded. Naruto was back to his normal self, though Harry now suspected there was much, much more to the hyperactive blond then he first suspected and he was going to find out just what.

XXOO

"Well, well looks like Potter got himself another stooge. What's wrong Potter, old ones not good enough?"

"Look who's talking crony-boy. Didn't see you in Potions yesterday, your mother drive you here instead of catching the train?" Naruto knew that was quite impossible. Most the students didn't even know what a car was let alone had parents who owned ones. In fact Naruto himself had only ever seen one car in his life and it hadn't stayed in Konoha very long. Ninja could run faster than they could move anyway so there really wasn't much point for mass distribution of the pollution machines. It was far more likely he had taken a port key here but he wasn't about to ruin his perfectly good comeback with facts.

The boy twitched and Naruto smirked, he had hit a nerve, even if the disturbance was covered up within moments. Oh this boy was going to get so many pranks pulled on him this year. Maybe he could be the 'culprit' in his slimy thing down Snape's back project.

"Leave us alone Malfoy!" Harry groaned. He knew that no Malfoy this year was too good to be true. "I make new friends not replace old ones."

Malfoy gained his own smirk, looking positively pleased with himself. "You're going down this year you know Potter."

"Smug bastard…" Muttered Naruto. He wasn't about to let some snot nosed pretty boy insult them and get away with it. With his back to the wall to hide them he made a series of one handed seals he had picked up on one of his ventures to get back Sasuke. A minor genjitsu should do the trick…make him see something really horrid. Leaning over to Harry he whispered "What's pretty boy scared of? I'll make him see it."

"Anything that lives in the forbidden forest. How about you set a bunch of wild wolves on him. Their howls freaked him out pretty bad when we were made to serve detention in it in our first year. Though he might have gotten over that by now."

"Only one way to find out."

"I hope you are not planning anything that breaks school rules Mr. Uzumaki." Drawled Snape finally showing up to let them in to class. Naruto gave him a death glare worthy of the teacher's admiration but he merely waved a finger at the boy. "Now, now Mr. Uzumaki, that is no way to look at your Professor and at your age too. Anyone would think you were a monster. Five points from Gryffindor."

Harry didn't know whether to be glad that the Potions master had seemingly forgotten all about him or be worried for his newest friend who now had to face the wrath of his most hated teacher. Deciding to be both, he clamped his hand onto the seething ninja's shoulder and guided him into the dank classroom for the double session of hell.


	5. Ichigo

"Well that wasn't so bad after they cleaned up the mess." Commented Naruto as they met Hermione and Ron for the morning break.

"Don't ask." Rushed Harry before he even received the questioning glances. The day was nippy and Naruto was rugged up so tightly that you could barely see his eyes behind it all. Konoha was a warm place and he was used to wearing sandals all year round. These closed in shoes where hurting his toes since he still hadn't gotten used to them. The robes he could deal with. They reminded him of the Hokage ones and that brought about thoughts of Tsunade. Briefly a pang of homesickness made him bite his cheek but he shoved it back down and continued to grin as if nothing bothered him, but it did.

He didn't notice it at first but most of the teachers seemed to be scared of him now that they knew about the demon sealed inside him. They avoided him at almost all costs and if he wasn't mistaken Snape had subtlety threatened to expose his secret if he didn't keep his yap shut. He knew he wouldn't be able to deal with this place anymore if all the students started to shun him too.

"We all have Defence Against the Dark Arts next, don't we?" Asked Harry and Naruto bit down harder on his cheek, drawing blood but otherwise not reacting. They'd be starting their study on the Kyuubi today and that was not something he wanted to do. But his mission was clear cut and if he didn't want to disgrace his honour then he'd have to follow his charge into the foul classroom and learn what he already knew better than almost anyone else. He wasn't about to read the book but he would sit through the discussion and work.

Harry was still intent on his little chat with Naruto and had even set a time. During their spare after Defence Against the Dark Arts they had bargained that Naruto would train and Harry would watch. He intended to question him then, away from prying eyes of other students. They already had permission to use the room of requirement for Naruto's work out.

"Yeah…" muttered Naruto, scratching the back of his neck.

Ron grimaced. "Well it won't be too pleasant for you will it... With us learning about the Demon that attacked your home."

Naruto merely nodded. "It's really cold." he said to change the subject and emphasized it by wrapping his arms around himself.

Hermione laughed. "It's not nearly as cold as it will be in a month. You're going to need heat spelled clothes if you're cold this early in the season. Summer only just ended."

Naruto was about to retort when the bell went for them to go to class and the conversation was dropped as they made their way up to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Naruto dragging his feet.

XXOO

It was a blur how Naruto had ended up in the room of requirement and was now kicking air, his leg a stream of colour instead of a solid shape. He wasn't thinking about what he was doing. The drills he had learnt where programmed into his brain and training had become a time to think if he wanted, rather than concentrate.

His mind wandered back to Konoha and to the various people he considered friends. Sakura would be frantic by now; he hoped that was the case at least. The shadow of doubt that he was just being humoured and no one really liked him was always in the corner of his mind because of his childhood but he had learned to repress it even more as he grew with the other children of Konoha his age.

"Naruto." Harry said firmly, the word only half registering in the ninja's brain.

"Hmm?" He asked, ducking down to trip an invisible foe.

"I need to know the truth about your illness yesterday."

At this Naruto lowered his foot and arms to turn and focus his deep blue eyes on Harry, trying out one of Sasuke's scare tactics. Unperturbed Harry just glared back. Naruto was the first to get bored with the staring match and looked away, angry. "Why do you think I wasn't telling the truth?"

"Because I don't believe something like losing your parents as a baby would make the whole of your village hate you and you get so sick over the demon that killed them being in a book!"

Naruto huffed. Where else did he have to go but the truth now? But he had been harbouring the truth for so long…"I don't want to say. You'd hate me…be scared of me…like the teachers are now…"

Harry was getting impatient, his short temper flaring. "Bull shit! Naruto, I don't care what the hell is wrong. I don't fear Voldemort and I won't fear whatever you can dish out!"

"You don't know what I've been through!"

"Well my childhood wasn't exactly peaches and cream either!"

"You have people who care enough about you to know if you disappear and be unhappy about it!"

"You try living with an angry fatass for ten years!"

"Try living alone for that long with hate filled glares wherever you go outside!"

"And constant mistreatment by your carers doesn't add up to that!"

"NO!"

"Well then tell me why they bloody hate you!"

"I AM THE DEMON!" Naruto roared, fed up. "Alright! Happy now Mr Ihavetoknoweverything. I'm the damn demon that killed half the village of Konoha and one of its heroes…He sealed it inside me and its melding with me as we speak. Say hi to the Kyuubi, he can hear you clearer than day!" Naruto went back to throwing kicks and punched at nothingness. "Congratulations for being the first person my age I've told." His voice was like ice now, lacking all of the cheerfulness and warmth it usually spilled in vast amounts.

Harry stood frozen. Not because of the information, but because of the pure venom in the other's voice. He dropped down into his chair, having stood up in their shouting match. And then he did something he didn't think he was going to do, he laughed. Full blown laughter like he hadn't for months. Naruto stopped his training and glared at him, hands balled into tight fists. "What the hell is so funny?"

It took Harry a few moments to compose himself enough to answer, doubled over and out of breath. "Th-that was what you were hiding!"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, confusion etched into his features. "Hu?"

"You're not a demon Naruto! You just think you are! Oh and you thought I'd be scared of you after I've gotten to know you! I can't breathe!" Harry bit his cheek in an effort to inhale enough air to stop himself from passing out. The hilarity of the situation faded into just a small sniggering and a soft smile replaced the large grin on Harry's face. "Idiot…Friends shouldn't care about the fact that you carry a demon. Actually I'm glad that you are keeping it captive from what I read about it. That people hate you for protecting them is despicable."

Naruto's face was shadowed again by his unrestrained hair and Harry raised an eyebrow. With a sudden yell Naruto launched himself at the boy who lived, wrapping his arms around Harry's torso and knocking the chair over in the process. Naruto, now straddling the other boy, rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Gomen, gomen, Harry. I didn't mean to use that much force. It's just I…I'm not used to someone being that nice to me, ya know…It's not exactly something I get a lot of…even if I do have friends now."

Playfully Harry pushed Naruto off of him and chuckled quietly. "Well then you'll like it here I think."

Jumping to his feet Naruto looked as if he had just been asked to be the next Hokage, barely able to keep still and for once, Harry noted, his grin did not hide something behind it but was the truth. "Ne, ne! Harry. Help me train! You can throw some hexes at me to dodge!"

Nodding Harry raised his wand. Naruto had seemed grown up enough when they had first met but most of the time he acted like he was a kid. Maybe it was just the other's way of coping with all the pent up emotions that seemed to escape when provoked; though he had a level enough head in a dire situation. Harry smirked; he'd give Naruto a run for his money in this. "Expelliarmus!" He yelled and so started their sparing match.

XXOO

Both were laughing, slightly giddy, as they stumbled through the portrait-hole to collect their things for afternoon classes before going to lunch. Their training had turned out to be good fun; Harry had even managed to hit Naruto once or twice in the good hour they played, though the minor burns had healed almost immediately as if they had never been there in the first place.

"You have good reflexes Harry! You would have made a great ninja!"

"Why 'would have'?" Harry asked.

Naruto stumbled over the question "Well…er…"

"Train me." At this Harry looked Naruto dead in the eyes, conveying his seriousness. "I don't want to have to rely just on my magic when I fight…the man I have to kill. It is stupid to just have one set of skills to depend on and being able to move like you do at the very least would be more than an advantage."

Naruto stared at him for a moment with his large blue eye that gave away nothing of the tormented soul beneath them and Harry presumed he was thinking over the request. Before he was able to speak again and further argue his case though Naruto began to chuckle, almost tinted with bitterness. "You remind me a lot of him…'the boy I have to save' to use your terminology…and his…" The common room was empty; everyone was already down at lunch as their session had gone overtime. Naruto moved forward and sat himself down in one of the plush chairs closest to the fire and Harry sat in one opposite him. "He wanted revenge, you see. Used those words, 'The man I have to kill', more than once to refer to the one who killed his family. Though that would be a translation since it would have been in Japanese obviously." There was a light mature smile on the shinobi's tan face now, as if he were thinking of a fond memory. "I've talked about Sasuke before, ne? That day at Daigon Alley…the one who hates his brother."

Harry froze in shock, surely Naruto wasn't hinting at what he thought he was. "His brother killed his family?" He asked, unable to stop himself.

Naruto merely nodded, looking grim now. "Every single one of them. All the clan but two was wiped out in a single night. He told me that his brother had liked to kill them all. He had been 'testing his power' against the strongest family in fire country, his own. Sasuke told me he had gotten home late that day. That bodies had littered the streets of the Uchiha compound and when he had found his brother, the same one he had looked up to all his life, over the bloodied bodies of their okaa-san and otou-san he had made him watch as he killed all of them all over again in the illusion world the sharingan, their special power, their bloodlimit,can create…"

Naruto paused here, as if pondering if he should continue or not. "He tried to obtain this power too, in his search for revenge…and almost did…For you see, to obtain the highest power of the sharingan one must kill their most precious person…their best friend…He tried to kill me…but he left me alive...What I cling to now is that he still has a heart left after a man who offered him the power he needed to defeat his brother has had him for so long. That once I am able to find him I can uncover his good side again…bring him home like I promised I would when I was twelve. That was what I was doing the day I was sent here. No doubt Sasuke was the one meant to be sent to you room, to kill you with the poisoned kunai portkey…" Naruto trailed off, eyes glazed and not really focusing on anything, though they still lay on Harry. "It would appear that now you know my deepest darkest secret you have become my confidant. I haven't really told anyone these things but I feel I can trust you not to tell anyone. Though I'd have to hex you to death if you let slip."

With the last sentence Naruto's mouth split into a grin and like the conversation had never happened Naruto slipped back into his immature state of blissful cover. "Of course I'll train you if you can handle it." Harry thought he caught an evil glint in his newest friend's eye. "But in exchange you have to teach me English and help me with my subjects. This spell is really annoying! And the time between having to reapply it is getting shorter, I'm beginning to wonder if eventually I'll end up being completely muddled up, not being able to speak either language."

At this Harry lit up, a bit put out about the story of the Uchiha clan's remaining members. "Nice. We can start tomorrow if you like, after classes finish for the day. We can do homework during the spares. We have to write an essay by Friday which I'll get Hermione to help you with since I'll have enough trouble with my own."

Naruto nodded an affirmative and both went to do the task they had come to do before heading down to grab something to eat in the last 15 minutes they could.


	6. Yoshi

Time flew by quickly for both Harry and Naruto as classes became increasingly difficult, though admittedly more interesting. A week after the start of term they had started trying non verbal spells. Naruto had mastered these in the first lesson having already spent months on end trying to do basic ninjutsu without the hand seals required, let alone the words that accompanied them. So far he had only managed the henge and body swap techniques without seals, though for the most part he no longer had to say the name of the ninjutsu with the seals once he knew them. The feat took more energy though and Naruto liked the wand better in this sense. He didn't have to exert any noticeable amounts of chakra and so far he had never tired from casting spells.

Harry's training was going alright considering the teen had never done anything like martial arts save fighting off enemies. Naruto's English lessons, though hampered by the fact that he knew nearly nothing of English without the spell, was progressing verbally very well; even starting to lose his accent with some effort. Though Naruto stumbled over the characters of the alphabet occasionally and was dismal with his spelling of even the simplest words like cat which he had spelt 'kato' he had gone further than expected in the month and a bit they had been working at it, clearly showing a want to learn.

"Numbers." Ordered Harry as Naruto threw high kicks into the air.

"One," He said, in sync with his attack, "two, three, four, five, six, seven…seven…"

"Eight." Harry prompted.

Naruto nodded and continued his onslaught of air while counting "Eight, nine, ten," Reaching a good 500 before being unable to continue Naruto wiped the sweat off his forehead. It was Saturday and they had finished most of what homework they had been set the night before, leaving plenty of time for extra training. Harry had seemed particularly enthusiastic to get away to the room of requirement today but Naruto didn't care to pry as to why. He began to instruct Harry in his own sets of exercised to build up stamina and strength. They were going to start on chakra soon but Naruto thought the other needed to have a good grasp on the basics before they started that. He would have to learn a different form of magic and that could be very difficult if one had only used one and never knew of the other. Using Chakra was harder than using wands.

Naruto stretched out his slightly saw muscles after the longest workout he'd had since term had started and thanked on the boarder of worshiping whomever had made this room as a glass of water each appeared on the table that had been bare last time he had looked at it. He skulled it all in less than ten seconds as Harry did the same and they both let out a short laugh in unison.

"God bless this room." Cheered Harry as he lifted his empty glass into the air to emphasise his point.

"Bless?" Asked Naruto, that wasn't something he had heard before.

"Ahh…" Harry scratched his head, trying to think of a way to explain it without making a fool of himself. "praise…? Yes. God praise, may it be in God's good favour."

Naruto nodded happily, "Amen."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Hermione getting to you again?"

Naruto nodded and wrinkled his nose up at the memory. "I ask her to teach me harder words and she got a big book with lots of words in it…called it a dika…dikasho…"

"Dictionary?" Prompted Harry, slightly proud that he was having to do that less and less these days.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, Dictionary. We got through most of Aa and then we ran out of time…I don't remember much but 'Amen' stuck because Hermione gave me lots of examples saying I might need it."

Harry laughed. "Next time just get her to read out of one of the text books and ask her anything you don't understand. That's probably a smarter thing to do."

Naruto nodded and plastered his trademark grin onto his face, eyes arched, nose wrinkled.

Harry glanced at his watch and said "Well, we should head back to the common room now. I promised Hermione I'd meet her after we finished."

"Hey!" Naruto jumped to his feet then fell into the stance he used before a fight. "Let's make this into a stealth mission! We have to get back up to the common room without being seen by anyone." He pumped his fist into that air. "Yeah! I haven't done stealth since last time I had to escape McGonagall-Obaa-chan and that was the start of…of…term!" He hadn't had to be corrected this time and he was extremely happy about that. It meant he was getting better.

Harry nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. I mean, I need to see if I can pull it off as well, don't I? I haven't really had a chance to practice my new skills outside of this room."

And then they were off, zipping from corridor to corridor avoiding the odd student going to the library or to see friends, or teacher patrolling the hall. Naruto guessed that the only time they were spotted was when Peeves the Poltergeist came up through the floor but they were gone too fast for him to react to them in any way. In any case the mischief maker had some sort of weird respect for Naruto, similar to that of which he had for the Weasley twins, since the Shinobi had indeed pulled off his 'something slimy down Snape's back' plan, getting two Slytherins a week of detention each (the second was pure luck as he just happened to be standing near by and saw the whole thing but did nothing to prevent it).

They arrived at the portrait of the fat lady in record time and Harry grabbed onto Naruto's arm to stop him. The Fat Lady herself frowned at them for running in the halls but didn't comment. Harry waited a little bit, bent over in an attempt to get his breathing back under control and when he finally stood back up the portrait spoke "Password?"

"Flibber wobkins!" Chimed Naruto but the fat lady shook her head. Naruto furrowed his brow. "Hu? That was the password yesterday and no one said anything about a change…"

Harry hid a smile as he cut his body guard off. "Naruto is seventeen." He stated quite calmly and the panting swung forward. Naruto, thoroughly confused but heart pounding followed Harry through the portal and stood up at the other side to a suddenly bright room.

"SURPISE!"

Collective yells of the word echoed around the common room and Naruto blinked a few times in…well, surprise. A large chunk of Gryffindors, all year levels, had jumped out from behind furniture as the light had been unblocked. The shinobi looked around him, from face to face of beaming teenagers and slowly a huge grin spread over his own; no hint of any falsehood hiding in it. It was his birthday, wasn't it? And he was seventeen which he had learnt was the coming of age year in the wizarding world. He was now legally able to cast spells outside of school, not that that would help him much since he already did that and couldn't be picked up because of his different type of magic signature.

He was overwhelmed as most the people flocked forwards to surround him and drag him forward into the party and he was lead over to a large pile of presents, more then he'd ever seen in his life and all addressed to him. Harry, Hermione and Ron where near the front of the crowd encouraging him to start opening the presents. Tears came to the Ninja's eyes. He'd never had a party thrown for him before. Sure a couple of the girls in town had given him presents before for their equivalent of Christmas but he hadn't ever told them when his birthday was, fearing they'd make the connection. So to have this, with more people then he'd ever befriended in one room to fuss over him alone was too much for him to handle. Rubbing the tears away hastily he beamed back at everyone and proceeded carefully unwrap the bundles one by one, saving the wrapping paper as if it were made of gold.

Harry smiled as he watched Naruto. Was this how he had looked the first time he'd gotten something substantial for his birthday? Only Hedwig would be able to say if she could, as she was the only one there, but being an owl it would be quite hard for her to confirm. The look on Naruto's face as he held up another gift made all of the planning behind the other's back (which had been very hard since Harry was pretty much forbidden to leave his side) worth the effort.

Harry had actually only been the one to think of the idea. He had gleaned the date from Naruto saying his birthday was on a national day of mourning and what the book said about the nine tailed demon fox and then forded the information on to Hermione who, with the help of Ron, had organised everything; coming to Harry for confirmation of details only, since they didn't want the surprise leaked.

Then they had let out the word and it spread like wildfire. Everyone in Gryffindor had taken a shining to the teenaged 'exchange student' and his happy-go-lucky personality. Therefore naturally they had gained a big turnout.

Once everything had been opened and Naruto had almost exploded from the sheer amount of them he was ushered over to the food and then everyone was left to mingle with their own social groups, every now and then coming over to talk to Naruto.

Naruto practically split his face when he was finally allowed to get to the trio of friends and very nearly knocked them all to the ground when he leapt onto all three at the same time in a group tackle hug shouting "SANKYU!", accent present in his excitement. Hermione blushed, Harry laughed it off and along with Ron, who had been shocked at the sudden show of affection, pushed the blond off of them and back onto his own feet.

Rubbing the back of his head (a habit which Harry had picked up from Naruto) Harry grinned back. "Well you said you'd never really celebrated your birthday so I figured you'd like something like this."

Hermione chuckled, nodding in agreement. "When Harry told us we got to it straight away, between homework of course."

Ron snorted. "She's not kiddin' I think I did more homework then I was set while 'Mione and I were working on this. Glad ya like it mate."

Naruto for once didn't know what to say. Instead he starting to cry and hug tackled them once more; it was alright to cry when you're happy, after all. Only Harry possibly had an inkling as to how much this meant to him (they hadn't told anyone else about Naruto's little problem, not even Ron and Hermione) and even he probably couldn't come close, or could he? He'd been an orphan too, living with unloving relatives.

Composing himself Naruto drew himself back since they hadn't pushed him off this time and wiped away his tears, bringing himself up to his full hight of 5'8" then bowed in traditional Japanese style, arms flat against his sides and body bent in a right angle. Bringing himself back up his real age and maturity showed on his face as he smiled a true smile. "You guys rock." he said, a British accent in place that Harry hadn't heard him use before and totally undermining his expression. All three cracked up laughing, the touching moment gone. Ron got Naruto in a headlock, ruffling his hair and Hermione crossed her arms disapprovingly. Harry rolled his eyes and Ron let go, then the four moved over to the food table to mingle and eat.

XXOO

They were in bed late, exhausted from the afternoons partying. It had easily run for about 6 hours until people started going to bed. House elves had delivered dinner to the dorm instead of them having to go down for it and another four hours saw everyone else eventually retiring, until the only ones left were Ron, Harry, Nevil and Naruto. Dobby had assured Harry that he would clean up most the mess left over (Hermione still left out little hats from time to time) so now the four boys were up to bed without anything to worry about for the time being. It had taken them a few trips to carry all Naruto's gifts up to their room as well and now all of them were about ready to collapse. All of them except Naruto. He was still relatively wide wake and full of energy so when the rest of his friends went to sleep he sat up and using something that the giver had said would only shine light for himself, looked through his mass of presents.

He put all the wrapping paper in a very net pile and then in a bag that someone had spelled to give it extra space then sorted the other things into categories like 'food' and 'novelty'. Then his heart sank. The mass of gifts reminded him of Sasuke. Lots of things did these days and he got more and more depressed every time he remembered that he wasn't looking for his friend, like he had promised he would. It had been ages since he had come here and still no word from Dumbledore of any progress in finding a way back home.

Naruto bit his lip as he mentally cursed Sasuke's weakness. He had long ago decided that Sasuke was weak in his heart, even if he was stronger physically. Otherwise he would never have let Orochimaru take him away. He'd taken an easy way out, trying to kill his brother with the strength of another rather than his own ability. And then, Naruto sighed, he'd be just like Itachi…barely human, a murderer in the worst possible sense. Naruto never wanted to kill, he just had to sometimes. Sasuke wanted to kill, he didn't mind it anymore. He'd run into Sasuke once more after their fight, years later and it was only for a brief moment but Naruto had seen his lost eyes, almost dead and it had only stiffened his resolve and he started calling what he was doing 'saving Sasuke' rather than bringing him back.

He picked up one of the figurines Hermione had given him, it was part of a set of four. This one was his exact likeness and did various ninja moves he had shown off to the three of them at one point. The other three were of them, Harry had a broomstick and Gryffindor Quiddich robes and flew around when you wanted it to. Ron's was similar but would defend invisible rings with some of his most spectacular moves that he was assured the keeper had pulled off before. Hermione's he was sure she had taken the longest with. Her's was reading a book and corrected his pronunciation and prompted him when he forgot a word in a way that was almost identical to the original, except the voice was a tad bit off since he figured it was quite hard to make something like this last and she had obviously wanted to make it last. He smiled; at least he'd have a way to remember them when he had to go back.

He picked up Ron's next. It was a set of things from his brothers' joke shop. A skiving snackbox, various defence objects he was surprised came out of a joke shop, the orb that was giving him light and something he didn't know what it was but was too shocked to ask at the time. He was sure he'd use the defence items sooner or later in his profession so he took extra care of those, setting them aside carefully.

Harry's present topped them all though. The owlet-nightjar sat quietly on his nightstand, watching him with an almost motherly glint in her eyes. He hadn't decided on a name yet but the bird had instantly grown on him. For the rest of the party she had considerately stayed away, gone up to get some sleep for the rest of the day but had come back as sleep had claimed the others in the room, as if she knew he wanted company. She flew up onto his shoulder as she saw him looking at her and nibbled his ear affectionately while he moved up his hand to stroke her soft feathers. He'd never had a pet. It would die and then he would cause himself unnecessary pain. He had been too young then, barely able to take care of himself anyway and then as he got older his job had taken over his life, leaving him no time for pets even if he'd ever thought about it again. But the owl would be able to come with him. She seemed smarter than normal, even if she couldn't talk like the frogs he summoned.

She pecked him a little harder then she had been nibbling as if prompting him to do something and Naruto chuckled. "Name you…?" the bird nodded and he laughed again softly so as not to wake anyone up. "Alright then…" He shifted her to his arm, not needing anything to protect it because of his tough skin built up over the years intentionally to make it harder to wound him. He made a show of scrutinising her then noticed her feathers reminded him of a lake, of water, he smirked, then that's what he's call her. "Mizu, Mizu-chan. It means water where I come from…" He yawned and rubbed his eyes, Mizu going back to her perch on his nightstand. "Better go to sleep now or I'll be tired tomorrow.." he uttered before carefully placing the rest of his presents into the internally enlarged bag and putting it aside so nothing broke and he could sleep. Laying down he smiled, his last thought before drifting off was that this had been the best day of his life.


	7. Ishitsubutsutoriatsukaijo

Naruto awoke the next day to a stiff back and Mizu nowhere in sight. He glanced around for her before deciding she'd probably gone out to hunt for the rest of the night and then gone up to the Owlery to sleep through the day. He heard some noise downstairs so he got up, vaguely noting that everyone else had already done so.

"It's Sunday, what's everyone doing up?" he asked the collection of sixth years once he'd reached the common room, rubbing an eye of sleep. Girls and boys in his year were awake and chatting too animatedly for an hour, in his opinion, too early.

Ron smiled at him lopsidedly when he was noticed. "Mornin' Naruto." he chirped, scratching his nose. "We were just cleaning up the rest of the mess from yesterday since we kinda promised that we would if they got us food and turned the other cheek."

The common room was actually quite clean by now so Naruto just smiled back at them; still kinda glowing from happiness at having so many people like him and actually care enough to throw him a party for his usually very unhappy birthdays. "You guys are the best!" Exclaimed the blonde, grinning at them all. Hermione and Harry came up next to Ron to say good morning and then he remembered his presents, specifically the ones from Hermione and that he should actually be carrying one of them around with him. Running back upstairs and rummaged through his things to find his figurines his brow furrowed when he only came up with three of them, not being able to find the one of him no matter how hard he tried. With a sad sigh he picked up the one of Hermione and pocketed it for later use.

"Mizu would have gone up to the Owlery to sleep by now, right?" questioned the boy as soon as he returned to the trio of friends.

"That what you named the owl?" Harry asked, a little more eager because it was his present.

"Yeah. She stayed down with me last night until I went to sleep...must have then gone out hunting and then to sleep herself." He reasoned with a nod. "I'll go look for her later on but first-" his stomach gave a very loud growl instead of him having to say it. Hermione laughed, and they all parted ways to get dressed so they could go down to the great hall for breakfast leaving the cleaned common room behind them.

XXOO

"We're glad you liked your party so much." Hermione said, buttering a piece of toast. Naruto grinned from ear to ear at the reminder, stuffing some bacon into his mouth. He'd started eating new things now (after much torment from Hermione) and he'd taken a liking to bacon with eggs on toast. It wasn't entirely healthy but neither was packet ramen and he'd lived on that since he could boil water. Lunch was usually varied, though he still got his daily fix of his favourite food at dinner and had even turned a couple of the other students onto it, making it a dish always served on the table for more than just one person.

"But man did it take a while to clean up, even with magic." Ron added, mixing the mound of sugar he'd just applied into his cereal. "I think we ended up getting butterbeer on the roof...at least I hope that's what it was..."

Hermione shook her head at that. "Honestly, your aim was all off and trying to hit Naruto with something sticky is impossible. For us anyway."

"Bet Harry could do it though." Ron said, pointing his spoon at said teen who snorted and replied, "Only if he was very drunk and wanted to get hit. You haven't seen him at full speed."

Naruto left them to their conversation, letting his gaze wander around the room until it settled on the Slytherin table. Squinting a little trying to find out why, he saw most of them were huddling together. Occasionally they'd glance in their direction and he figured that was why he had been drawn to look at them back. The loudmouth ninja glared at the next, unfortunate little girl to look at him and she started, turning back to sit stiffly in her chair. If he wasn't mistaken she had also yelped.

Before he could experiment on another person Hermione was herding them out of the hall so they could go catch up on the study time they'd missed yesterday leaving him confused and with a sense of foreboding.

XXOO

By lunch time Naruto knew something was terribly wrong. Walking down the corridor no one seemed to be around. He and Harry had just left the library to go to the toilet. He thought he saw someone glance around the corner then run off again but he was desperately hoping that it had just been his paranoid imagination and it wasn't what he thought it was.

Harry seemed to have noticed it too and was looking around a little perplexed.

"Is it just me, or are the corridors particularly deserted today?" Naruto asked to break the silence and hide his growing panic. "Though it could just be that everyone's hungry and went down early for lunch." He added, lamely trying to lighten the mood with a joke. Harry forced a laughed for the sake of it.

It was Harry who got to the bathroom first and froze, eyes a little wider than normal, door open just the slightest. Naruto caught up but any questions he might have had died on his lips.

"How could they let someone like that into Hogwarts! And at a time like this!"

"It's as good as signing all our death warrants - he's probably in league with You-Know-Who. All them power hungry killers are. You studied it yet?"

"Course I have, was the first thing we did. At least one of the teachers was smart enough to warn us about a demon."

At this point Harry burst loudly through the door, saying "-Hermione's sure a slave driver, that book she wants us all to read on healing potions has to be a foot thick." as though they were in the middle of the conversation rather than coming from just standing silently at the door.

Two boys, both of whom looked to be in their 4th year, one from Hufflepuff and the other Ravenclaw, started at the noisy intrusion and upon seeing just who it was who had entered, quickly finished up and left in a rush without, Naruto noticed, washing their hands. He didn't much care for that little fact however since his suspicions had been confirmed in that small instance of eavesdropping.

In a sort of numb haze the ninja moved over to the window, leaning on the brick sill and staring out at the forest beyond. So this is what would happen if he'd told people back home. Surely it would have spread like wildfire and then everyone who didn't know would hate him...except maybe Sakura, though he knew Konohamaru wouldn't be so understanding and that would sting worse than all the unnamed death glares in Hidden Leaf.

Harry was worried. Surely Dumbledore had told anyone who did know not to tell; then how did the rumour start? Normally in a situation like this Naruto would either laugh it off and pretend it wasn't an issue or yell at someone. Now however he was being quieter then Harry had ever seen him - he didn't boast to be the number one loudest ninja for nothing. Even asleep he made more noise than this.

He walked up to stand behind the older boy but before he could say anything Naruto got to it first

"You would think Voldemort would have done something by now, ne? He's been exposed for months…"

Obviously he didn't want to talk about it so Harry didn't pursue it for now. He'd get enough of it later. "Hmm…I presume he's rallying troops…or the Daily Profit isn't reporting any murders going on."

They were quiet for a long time, just standing there looking at the now cloudy landscape. From the purple tinge, the boy-who-lived could tell it was going to rain tonight. How ironically appropriate, he though with a dry smile and a sigh. "We should get back before Hermione starts to worry about us."

When Nartuo turned around again he was grinning broadly; so much so his eyes were almost closed he was squinting so badly. "I don't want her lecturing me about being a good influence on you again. That last one was really boring and I didn't even do half the things she said I did. It was you." He laughed, but the sound wasn't as rich as usual. Spending so much time with Naruto over the last few months had keyed Harry in to the slight shifts in Naruto's emotions, letting him see when something wasn't quite real.

Naruto was a brilliant liar. Of course he had to be to be a ninja. Harry was still impressed at how easily he'd spouted flawless lies to avoid getting into trouble. More than once he himself had been caught off guard by a practical joke from the shinobi involving one or two well placed lies but when one spent so much time with someone some things were just too hard to hide.

By now most the school would know Naruto's secret, all by dinner; and most of them would understand just what the demon was if Professor Hino had been as thorough with the rest of her students as she had been with them.

Naruto grabbed his wrist on the way out, pulling him along seemingly eagerly. Harry presumed the other just wanted to get back into familiar company. Hermione wouldn't be as shallow minded as to snub Naruto just because he contained something dangerous. Ron, Harry though with a mental sigh, might be a bit awkward with it for a while but Hermione would get him on the right track with a few well placed elbows and words.

There would be a few Gryffindors, as disappointing as it was, that would react as badly as the rest of the school probably would. Most of their house however would just snort and say if they'd survived this long and nothing bad had happened, why should they be scared of a friend?

"Naruto!" Harry was startled out of his thoughts by Hermione's distressed exclamation in time to see her rush past him and practically tackle his companion with the force of her hug. Naruto himself went stiff, eyes wide. Did Harry look anything like this when he'd first really experienced human touch? From what he'd heard Naruto didn't get too much of it and Hermione hadn't really indicated before this that she'd do such a thing as almost hug him to the ground.

"Oh Naruto we just heard -I mean I presumed something like this because I researched possible ways to defeat a demon in one of the old texts but I didn't know just what and now everyone does and oh, it's as bad as everyone thinking Harry was crazy last year!" She was sobbing a little in her hysteria and worry and Harry smiled. It was just as he predicted, which was further confirmed when he glanced at Ron to see him just a little bit startled and confused.

Naruto let out a sigh and relaxed, resting his head on Hermione's shoulder as if he was too tired to do much else. She didn't let go either, maybe sensing, in whatever maternal genes she had, the ninja's need for comfort. Away from his real home this had to be a bit more stressful then it normally would have. Then again if he was back home this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

It was a little while before they all settled back at their table. The library had cleared out, not only because lunch was very near but because Naruto was back and in the short span of time it had taken Harry and Naruto to go to the bathroom (which Harry never did use and still needed to) everyone there who didn't know had been informed.

To Harry's surprise, now that he thought about it, Madam Pince never did tell Hermione off for her little scene. Maybe she was scared of Naruto now, which was probably going to be likely for most of Hogwarts, but he doubted it.

"We could make a game of this…" Said Naruto watching another person walk in, take one look at who was there and turning right back round again, and after missing most of the small talk that Hermione had been pursuing in hopes to lighten the mood. "We could call it, 'Friend, Foe or Afraid' and try to spot just who shits themselves at the site of me or who glares like I killed their entire family in one fell swoop."

Harry was sure this would have managed a laugh out of him if the situation wasn't so much like the one he'd been through last year. He'd felt rotten then and he still felt rotten whenever he thought about it.

"I think we should go down to the kitchens for lunch…" Ron muttered, and Harry had to agree with him. Everyone staring just now was not going to help the situation.

"I feel like ordering a different kind of Ramen today anyway." Naruto chirped, already to his feet with his usual, loud demeanour back in place for the walk down there. The other three stood up much more subdued, though they really were trying, Harry could tell with the other two as well, to keep things normal.

Leaving the Library only to be greeted by equal silence in the hallway was all the indication they needed to know the walk wouldn't be a particularly pleasant one.


	8. Yasai

The next month and a bit were much of the same, though at least after the first week things had settled down a tad and Naruto had utilized his 'game' to work out just who to avoid and who he could still talk to. Despite what everyone had always said about him he was good at what he did, and was damn well capable of sussing out a situation like this without anyone's help.

Currently they sat in potions on a Wednesday, working on their latest assignments rather than brewing something today. They had to wait for their last one to congeal and age before moving on.

Naruto stared down at his parchment, reading back on his last sentence and realizing it didn't make a wit of sense. He glanced over at Harry's and while that was a little better, he couldn't really understand that either. Time for the spell again, he admitted with a sigh as he picked up his wand and pointed it at himself. While he was getting better with his English, he was still almost hopelessly floundering with the writing part, not all that good at it in his own language either…and English was a good deal harder then Japanese.

"Mr. Uzumaki," Came Snape's awful drawl just as he was about to whisper the charm. "may I inquire as to why you have your wand out; and pointing it at yourself as well"

Naruto rolled his eyes. The obnoxious Potions master was trying to goad him, he presumed, as he probably knew exactly what Naruto was going to do. Unless he thought he had broken and was going to hex himself. He knew quite a few by now. Then again he didn't usually cast this charm in class. It lasted a great deal longer when it was only for writing.

"I need to re-do the charm that allows me to read." He answered, sounding as bored with this as he felt right now.

"And you didn't have the foresight to do this before my class because..?" Snape continued, raising one eyebrow ever so slightly in one of his effortless condescending looks. Naruto wondered if he could just do those because he could or if he had perfected them in front of the mirror.

This was starting to get annoying, and his temper hadn't been all that good since his secret had been outed…then again he'd never really been good at keeping it down when someone was goading him, or making him look stupid. Snape had fallen under the 'Foe' category still, though he knew the greasy man would.

He took a deep, calming breath this time. "I didn't know it would wear out in the middle of class." He kept forgetting to end his sentences with 'sir' in this class. He'd never been fond of Snape, enough to hope he'd do something to physically hurt Harry so Naruto could do something horrid to him, and respect to his elders had never been something he'd put in high priority. Look at how he addressed his own Hokage, 'Tsunade-baba', how rude.

"One would think you'd know the cycles of a spell you've been using since the start of the school year, Mr. Uzumaki." Maybe this was just how Snape got his kicks. Really if he'd just let it slide then there wouldn't be any need for this pointless display.

"I forgot, then." He said a little too snappy for his own good. Couldn't that man just let it go? Everyone was staring at them; probably afraid Naruto would snap and go on some sort of rampage involving loss of limbs or life to any unfortunate enough to get in his way.

"Temper, Mr. Uzumaki. Ten points from Gryffindor"

"Because you couldn't just let me cast my spell and get on with my work without you interrupting the whole class?" Naruto retorted, glaring quite obviously at the potions master. This hadn't been the first time Snape had done something like this in the last few weeks.

"I believe that I must enquire if it looks like one of my students (AN: hehe, almost wrote 'stupids') is about to cast a spell on themselves during a theory lesson. Particularly if said student is a little unbalanced at the moment." He'd added the last sentence in a way that couldn't help but get Naruto's blood boiling. Unbalanced? What an infuriatingly delicate way to describe him at the moment. "Maybe a detention is in order to help you realize I am only doing my job in asking such things and to not talk back in such a disrespectful manner"

Naruto was halfway out of his seat before he decided it wasn't worth it and flopped back down. Had this been anyone else's class there would have been a buzz of hushed conversation but Snape had always been able to keep his classes silent.

The rest of period he didn't get much more done, not bothering to do the spell that had gotten him into trouble after all that. He'd mainly doodled on a separate parchment. The anger had quelled now, he just couldn't be bothered to keep it up. Even at the end of the lesson when they'd been leaving and Snape had told him his detention was at seven that night.

Despite his mission he wouldn't be taking Harry. There were plenty of trustworthy Gryffindors in the common room to help if one went rogue and they hadn't really been apart for months. They could both do with a bit of a break. Speaking of breaks, he sighed in relief as he realized Harry and he had one now. They could just go up to the common room, as they'd tended to since this whole mess had begun. Naruto needed a nap though. He didn't much care for his grades, and keeping up to date was quite enough for him. He wasn't going to live in this world anyway so what was the point in perfecting anything that he wasn't going to use in real life, like essay writing. Sure this was a very interesting and useful experience but home was somewhere he wanted to be right now, more than almost anything.

Hedwig was tapping at the window when they got to the common room and Harry rushed over to let her in, abet a little confused as to why she was here now. Naruto felt a small pang at the sight of her though. Mizu was still missing…had been since the night he'd got her. Weren't owls supposed to be loyal?

Harry took the small note from her and smiled at it. "It's from Remus, just keeping in touch. He must be in the area if Hedwig found him." Harry then frowned, pocketing it. "Bloody rotten Snape. He's probably just taking out his frustration at having no love life."

Naruto managed a smile, he'd been doing so less and less out of public. He knew it didn't matter what Harry thought about it and he wasn't in Konoha right now. "The man needs to get laid more than Tsunade-baa-chan."

Harry chuckled at this; he'd heard plenty of stories about Tsunade.

XXOO

Naruto was standing with a start when sirens started going off in what sounded like the entire school. It was so loud no one could possibly sleep through it and by now a lot of the students would no doubt be panicking. He'd been here for three hours, doing whatever Snape thought up on a whim. Great, he thought as he was instantly out the door and heading as fast as he could towards the Gryffindor dorms, this always happens when you let your guard down. And indeed that's what he'd done, figured it was safe to leave Harry for a few hours.

These sirens meant that someone had crossed onto Hogwarts land uninvited. The new ward had been set up at the start of the school year, to prevent anyone from sleeping through a raid and getting themselves killed that way. There were drills that the prefects and Head boy and girl knew, that the teachers knew, if a case like this arose and they would be set into motion within minutes so he had to hurry if he wanted to get there in time to reunite with Harry.

"Shiiiit!" He yelled, skidding on a wet patch of ground while turning a corner at high speeds. Peeves was almost definitely responsible for this stunt and he would have laughed at it had it been anyone else skidding in it, or at any other time. He jumped, pivoted off the wall and continued on as perfectly as a ninja of his class was expected to and in no time he was running up the last flight of stairs.

He'd been told that students were to stay in their common rooms in such an event as this, since no one could get in without the password. What he wasn't sure of was where they'd want him. He was skilled in a fighting style that their enemy was not and therefore an advantage to their side in the event that this was actually an attack. Then again, if they came by air through the windows then students were in danger and they'd need someone there to help with that.

He gave the password to the Fat Lady and she swung open quickly, letting him in and then instantly closing again. Students of all year levels were cramped into the common room, because it was safer in numbers. Professor McGonagall was looking tight lipped as she conversed quietly with the head boy. Catching a glimpse of him however, she bustled over, looking relieved as was possible in the current situation. She had been one of the few who hadn't been fazed by his little 'problem'.

"Mr. Uzumaki, thank goodness you're alright, although I'm afraid the headmaster has requested you're presence on the field." She sounded for all the world like she was only telling him this because she'd been threatened on some grounds if she didn't. "Mr. Potter will be perfectly fine without you for now, what with me and everyone else around in this secure area." Her lips were a thinner line than usual, and she looked away quickly before adding, "Well, off with you. We're under siege. They're not going to wait until we have all our pieces in place"

Naruto was off like a flash again then, though he didn't want to risk opening the portrait hole again so, much to the horror of the few people who managed to see, jumped out the window using chacra to run down the wall (since he wasn't very good at landing freefall, even if he did get up and walk away afterwards…most times).

Teachers were assembled just outside the front door, milling around and looking just a little lost. At least they were handling it better than some professionals he'd seem. Then again these kinda were professionals in stuff like this, what with the war and protecting the students and all.

He landed next to Dumbledore, said man not even flinching, just turning to give him a strained smile. "Ah, good man Mr. Uzumaki. We can't see anyone yet but there are at least five of them and they're most likely lurking at the edge of the forest." He paused here. Everyone seemed very much overly worried about him. He could understand though, he was as old as some of their students after all.

He looked up at the Headmaster expectantly when his pause lasted just a little too long. "Unfortunately we need you to go scout out what we're dealing with exactly." He finished, looking grim. Naruto knew he was their best bet with that. With his speed there wasn't much likelihood that he'd be caught by Death Eaters if that's who was out there. It was certainly someone with ill intent the way they stayed hidden like that, waiting for the right time to move.

He couldn't let them see him go so he shadow cloned himself, leaving it where he'd been standing and teleporting over into a tree at the edge of the forbidden forest, out of sight. From there he made his way a little deeper, combing the immediate area for any of the intruders. Though he didn't find any right away. He wondered if he should use his wand, or just jutsu. Since the latter was much more his style he decide on them for now, though his wand was in an easy access place in his sleeve. He'd taken to keeping it there with chakra as a training exercise.

He caught a whiff of something rather distinct in the air and a grin spread over his features as he followed it to its source. He got into position on the tree branch, let himself swing backwards, his kunai pulled into place at the person's neck and he abruptly dropped the weapon and then himself to the forest floor.

"Sakura?" He exclaimed, looking up at her own bewildered expression, no doubt mimicking his own.

"Naruto..?" She asked, a little weakly.

"What the hell are you doing here? Voldemort didn't hire us did he? Hell, I'll have to kill Tsunade-baba if we are-" Here he paused, because Sakura was giving him the oddest look of confusion and it took him maybe longer then it should have to realize why. Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment he muttered a small "sorry." switching to Japanese. He couldn't really believe he'd done that.

Before he could think about it further though, he found himself with an arm full of Sakura. She was sobbing into his school robes almost hysterically. It took a few moments for her to calm down enough to step back and when she did she, most unexpectedly, slapped him - hard.

"You kept going out for days on end looking for him and goodness knows that has me worried enough. Then you don't come home and for about a week I'm wondering if you've found something but it turns into months and still no sign of you. Then some bird shows up with a figurine of you and we all assume you're in some sort of mortal peril"

"Wait, a bird?" Naruto interrupted, just as much wanting answers as wanting to shut up her lecture. His cheek really hurt.

She sniffed, still half heartedly glaring at him. "An owl. At first we thought you were the toy since it was moving and all but there wasn't anything to prove that theory after testing."

"Mizu…" Naruto's grin returned as the full implications of what just exactly was happening. "Who else is here?" He asked, getting himself into an excited tizzy. "Dumbledore said the ward counted five people. Call everyone in, you have to meet all the teachers and I have to say you're not here to attack them." He took her by the hand, totally ignoring any protests she may have had, and dragged her out into the open, waving at the huddled teachers all the way across the grounds once they'd gotten close enough to be seen.

"Professors!" He called, mindful of which language he was speaking right now. "Crisis averted! They're friends!" Most of the teachers still looked very worried about the prospect of more people like him but he didn't pay them any heed, instead going straight to the headmaster and finally letting go of the girl's hand.

Sakura, to her credit, looked calm and collected in this new situation as Naruto introduced her and they waited for the rest of her team to meet up with them after she'd activated her call in jutsu (since the radio didn't work here being mechanical and all).

It turned out Shikamaru was leading the search and rescue, along with Hinata, Neji and Lee, the latter of which glomped him to the ground upon visual.

It was a mix of emotions, with Shikamaru's nonchalance, Neji's detached greeting, Hinata's shy but enthusiastic exclamation that she was glad he was alright, and of course, Lee's blatant joy at his friend being perfectly fine.

"What is this place?" Sakura asked at last, once everything had settled down a bit "and are you wearing a dress"

That last comment made Naruto blush, "No! They're robes. And you'll never believe this but it's a school for wizards to learn magic! I've learnt all this cool stuff, have a look-see!" And he promptly got out his wand and levitated a rock, wrote kanji in the air and made them shift and change and then turned Shikamaru's hair pink (much to said teen's discomfort).

By the end of it none of them could deny that wizards, or magic existed, though it was probably a bit easier to swallow with them being able to meld chakra.

"Now, now." They all turned to look at Dumbledore, who had been the one to interrupt their little reunion. "I'm sure you're very happy to see your friends but I'm also sure your new ones must be worried sick and I would very much like to have a word with you all before I send you off to bed." He gestured for them to follow. "Translator spells, hot chocolate and a short explanation before sleep though." He added, winking at Naruto over his shoulder.

Naruto couldn't help but be the happiest he had been since his birthday as they made their way up Dumbledore's office, the five other Konoha Shinobi just as fascinated as any muggle born would be at the sights the castle had to offer new eyes.


	9. Itai

The Christmas holidays were upon them in what seemed like no time at all. Everywhere one looked excited teens were lugging heavy trunks and chatting to friends. Occasionally you would come across the smart student who had bewitched their trunk in size or weight but they were few and far between. It was the Christmas holidays starting today and everyone was too hyper to really think about what they were doing.

The night way back when, when they had returned to the common room everything had been rather electric in a silent sort of way. McGonagall had come in to inform the students that it was just a false alarm otherwise Naruto would have expected at least Harry to have his wand pointed at him as he walked in. With the current company it wouldn't have mattered much but it was still the thought that counted. The only people left were Harry's friends and followers; making up equal numbers to those returning.

It had been rather relieving to see everyone get along almost instantly. No one wanted to go to bed, despite it being past midnight so socialising was the past time of choice for now. It was as if someone had gone and sorted everyone like beans as they all parted to talk to someone new.

Almost instantly Hermione and Ginny swooped in to take Sakura and Hinata over to the fire and began to talk about nothing in particular. Obviously Ron had been passing the time with a rather one-sided game of chess with Harry and that seemed to attract Shikamaru like a bug to flame. It didn't take long for Ron to teach him the rules and the resulting three hour game ended in a tie much to Ron's chagrin. They had almost begun a new game before Hermione realised what the time was and sent everyone to bed.

Lee had stayed with Naruto and Harry trying and failing to be quite, but the oddest and very much least expected pairing was Neville and Neji. They'd been the first to head to a corner and had spent the entire time conversing in hushed tones about goodness knew what. What they could possibly have to talk about was overshadowed by the fact that Neji was talking so much in the first place.

Naruto couldn't really remember much about that night. He'd spent the four hours until going to bed (finding extra beds already in place) in a sort of wonderful trance. In all honesty he hadn't really expected to see his friends again anytime soon. The icing on the cake was Mizu flying in around 2am and landing on his shoulder. He petted her until she flew away, although he couldn't remember how long it took her to get bored of the attention. He would have to buy her some extra good owl treats, or catch something tasty in the dungeons.

"I still don't see why you can't come stay with us." Ron complained again as he sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast before leaving for the train. Hermione had already settled herself down next to Sakura, both of whom had their noses in big books. The five new Shinobi had not been inducted into classes as Naruto had been but they were given full access to the library. They were not going to stay as long and none really had any real drive to learn how to use this new brand of Chakra. It was a totally different thing to research it and so they had all spent most their free time in the library. Dumbledore had given them patrol duties and while they all sat at the Gryffindor table, they'd been split up at night time into separate common rooms. It was safer that way.

With his friends here all the negative emotions sent his way just seemed like background noise. Naruto couldn't even remember what home sickness felt like and he guessed that it was them he had missed, rather than home itself. 'Home is where the heart is' or whatever Hermione had told him. There was a nagging worry in the back of his head, however, that had him constantly on edge. Everyone here knew about Kyubi - his friends did not. At least the rumours and whispers had died down. One couldn't hide something like rumours from a trained Shinobi.

"Dumbledore doesn't want to put your family in danger." Sakura answered instead of Harry. She sounded distinctly distracted by her book but that didn't stop her listening to everything else. Ninja had to be able to have multiple focuses and it had saved their lives more times than Naruto could count.

The blonde caught the grimace on Harry's face before he turned it into a smile. Everyone had marked the similarities between Sakura and Hermione. Evidently one bossy bookworm was enough for anyone.

"It's ok; it's not like I'm alone here." Harry added to smooth things over. Ron wasn't going to be pacified though, he was much to set in his opinion.

"Honestly Ronald, he's survived being here without us before." It was Hermione this time. She was obviously starting to get exasperated by all this. "It's safer for all concerned if he and Naruto's friends just stay at school. It's not like we'll never see him again." But there was something in her voice that belayed her confidence. It was only very tiny and the wizards probably didn't pick it up. The tension of nothing happening all year was getting to everyone.

Lee was on his feet in a second, one propped up onto his seat and an arm outstretched, pointing at Hermione and Ron. "I promise that I will protect your friend Harry with my life! There is nothing to fear!" He moved into the goodguy pose and his teeth flashed. Neji yanked him back down into his seat; they'd developed an audience in the rest of the room.

Ron huffed and crossed his arms. "Fine, but I still don't have to like it. Mum'll be disappointed too but at least she can still send you her home knitted jumper and over the top care package." Naruto snorted at the joke, he'd seen Harry's collection of said jumpers.

By this time breakfast was ending and people were already starting to leave for the Thestral drawn carriages with their trunks. Hermione and Ron stood up now too and Harry with them to see them off. The six shinobi let them go to the entrance hall alone for now. They could all sense any danger should it occur and they'd be able to get there before it escalated. Besides, there were teachers out there.

"They're really close…" Hinata whispered. She had a small smile on her lips and actually looked up at everyone as she spoke. They all nodded in return. It was a little heart warming to see such a friendship and it reminded Naruto of his own three man team…well before Sasuke left and after he'd stopped being a complete arse. A small pang of… something, he couldn't quite tell, shot through his heart.

They were almost alone in the great hall when Harry came back. He'd probably waited until the carriages had left before coming back. Naruto had probably just glimpsed the surface of those three's true devotion to each other and it was rather good to know that at least one hated little orphan boy had overcome that completely and made such permanent friends. Then again it probably helped that Harry only had three people around him as a child who really hated his guts.

Naruto glanced over at Sakura, who was closing her book and taking a last spoonful of her now cold porridge. She stood up and stretched out her back with an audible pop. "Well I don't know about you lot but I need to go out and exercise. All these blizzards keeping us inside have really been making me antsy." Ah yes; outside had been a dream for five days now as the snow had blocked the doors (not that that was the real problem) and hadn't really stopping their rather vicious attack on any exposed skin because of the wind. After the first fifty people coming back inside with scratches on their faces they had all been banned from leaving the school. At least it had stopped last night and all the snow cleared from the path leading down to Hogsmeade.

It wasn't until it had been expressed out loud that Naruto really felt how jumpy his legs were. He had never ever been confined like this in the cold and dark for such a long amount of time. His hospital stays had always been in a brightly lit room, with Konoha's almost permanent green and a gentle breeze just a few steps away. He healed fast anyway and usually he was out of it for most the time. He'd had to alleviate his boredom by playing more than one prank on that poncy blonde Slytherin git that the golden trio seemed particularly spiteful towards. The guy still had pink hair Naruto had seen when he'd passed by to get to the carriages. He wondered, as he stood, if he still had pink nails. Man he loved that spell.

They were outside before they'd decided what exactly their exercise was going to be. Harry was looking at them like they were insane because the only item of warm clothing they were wearing was the cloaks that billowed out in the wind.

"Ne! NE! How about a strategic snow ball fight!" Naruto was hit by inspiration. It wasn't something they had done yet and they were never in the snow without there being a mission. This was something he wanted to share with his fellow ninja folk but with their own twist. "Snowballs instead of Kunai and Shuriken; five hits and you're dead."

"How about we sweeten the deal?" Sakura was excited. He could tell from the way she was smirking. "Protect the 'king'. We can use Harry and Naruto's team can have one of his clones." She turned her head to the other green eyed member of their little party. "No offence but even if Naruto is starting to train you, you can't keep up with a bunch of Chuunin and Jounin and this won't be half as fun if we can't perform to our maximum potential." It looked like Harry was about to protest but one glance at the eager and somewhat maniacal expressions on some of their faces and he rethought his involvement. Naruto knew a snowball thrown by a shinobi had to hurt at least ten times as much as usual.

"So five hits you're out, the aim is to protect your 'king' while trying to kidnap the other team's, and no real weapons or jutsu." There, that sounded like a good game turned exercise. It sounded like this was going to be one long day but also fun like he hadn't had in a while. God he'd missed team exercises where no lives were at stake. It had been far too long. For the first time since his friends had found him he felt a small pang of home sickness. Konoha would always be where he belonged but for now he had to stay here.

They divided into teams, Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru on one side and Sakura, Neji and Lee on the other. There had almost been a skirmish when Naruto had summoned his clone in Sexy-no-jutsu form, Sakura outraged and Naruto claiming it was a tactic but they had ended up compromising with Naruto just giving her clothes. It was way better then getting punched in the face by an angry Sakura and now they could tell the difference between which Naruto they could hit and which they couldn't.

Harry couldn't really believe what he had gotten himself into. Lee had enthusiastically build them a fort that could have been considered art as well as being practical and the other two had set about collecting snow balls and stashing them to the side, behind their new wall. Across the field he could see Naruto's team had done the same thing, only the Naruto clone had built herself a little thrown that he could just see before the other wall became too high. Naruto would always be Naruto he guessed.

It wasn't until the battle had begun that he really began to be impressed. He'd thought that maybe he could be of some help in this battle but now he knew he'd just been very, very naive to put himself in even the same ballpark as this lot. What he had been taught would help him in battle with other wizards but up against a ninja he was like a baby. He chuckled to himself at that thought, remembering just what he'd supposedly done as a baby.

They all moved so fast he could barely see them most of the time. The pile of snowballs that had seemed impossibly large at the beginning had shrunk to half its size in just half an hour. All the shinobi kept trying to sneak over to the other side but retreated eventually when they were almost hit (or rarely were), by opposing fire. It was like watching one of Dudley's action cartoons but in real life. No way could any live action film capture this sort of action with such detail; it would end up looking like a crappy superman rip off set in Japan.

"Thank you for looking after Naruto these last few months." The sudden voice startled him, so focused he was on the battle. Sakura sat down next to him, letting out a loud sigh. She set about making more snowballs. "He's an idiot, but he's our idiot and it wouldn't do to have him going and getting himself killed."

"Er…You're welcome." Harry replied, figuring he should at least say that. Of all the shinobi who had come here she was the most normal. The only thing strange about her was her pink hair.

"The only thing he ever concentrates on are fighting and missions, well that and chasing Sasuke in his spare time. Baka…" She scowled but there was something undefinable under the surface. "Anyway, I'm glad he made friends over here. Then again he's never had trouble with that. The fool is far too likeable for his own good."

Harry had to laugh at that; it was certainly true. "He transformed into the playboy centrefold in front of my least favourite teacher the day we met. Something like that would get anyone into my good books."

She rolled her eyes. "Typical." Glancing down Harry saw that the pile of snowballs had already grown substantially in the time they'd been talking. "I do hope he hasn't caused too much trouble here. I suppose any substantial pranks on his end would have been relayed to us already so I shouldn't worry."

"Well there was the mess with the Kyuubi a while ba-" Harry cut himself off horrified. He'd completely forgotten Naruto's friends didn't know he carried a demon and now he'd gone and blurted the one thing he wasn't supposed to.

He bit his lip, not looking at the kunoichi for fear of seeing her reaction. She didn't say anything, which could have been interpreted either way. Merlin he was a right stupid git!

Snow and ice exploded everywhere and if it hadn't been for the expression on Sakura's face he would have assumed it was just a part of the game. The sharpness in her eyes, however, instantly put him on edge. Before he knew what was happening she had pushed his head down even further and crouched in front of him, holding one hand up in a seal. If he'd had any doubts about this not being part of the game they were erased; jutsu were against the rules.

Thoughts of his slip up were instantly shoved to the back of his mind in favour of battle tactics and spells. His wand was already in his hand and he couldn't even remember drawing it. Getting up into a crouch himself, Harry looked through his peephole in the wall trying to see into the forest.

Another second later he was in the air, having been scooped up and whisked away. Thankfully his hand had clenched rather than relaxed and he hadn't lost his wand in the move. Managing to look around he noticed that it was Lee carrying him and that they were headed towards the school.

Magical alarms were going off when they got inside. Harry was set down and only had time to orientate himself before teachers were running down the stairs asking for an assessment of the situation.

Dumbledore was the first to reach the entrance hall. He stopped before them with a very serious expression on his face. "What are we facing?" He asked in an equally serious voice.

Harry, just as eager to know himself, turned to face the three Ninja who had moved inside. His heart was nearly in his stomach. He knew they wouldn't look like that if it wasn't bad.

"Well." Said Lee, watching Sakura run through a long series of seals and muttering under her breath as she in turn stared at the door. "There seems to be an army out there."

If it was at all possible Harry's heart fell further into his stomach.

"An army of both shinobi and wizards."


	10. Yakuzaishi

It took less than a minute for everyone to get inside and assemble in the small classroom off the side of the entrance hall. The moment the other three ninja were out of danger Sakura had released the jutsu she had been creating into the wall. Naruto could tell it was the strongest defence technique she knew. That coupled with the two thousand or so clones he had created should serve to buy them a little time. He could feel the drain when he divided himself that many times but it wasn't much and he could still hold his own against most anyone.

"It's the stupid paedophile snake freak!" He exclaimed, confused when everyone in the room looked horrified. Most of them shouldn't have known who he was talking about. Then something hit him - well two things actually. The first was the knowledge that the wizard's enemy (what was his name? Voldymort?) was also very fond of snakes, the second was much more horrifying.

"Holly Shit!" He yelled, rushing to the window which now had a pink glow making the view hazy. Not that looking out would accomplish anything; the battle was in the forest and his eyesight wasn't that good. Neji and Hinata were already staring out there, trying to see what was going on with their Byakugan.

Squinting in his effort to see he almost didn't hear Harry asking him a question, as it was he had to ask him to repeat it. "Which snake freak? Naruto, which one?"

Naruto growled low in his throat in frustration, it was hard to try and answer he was so angry…and scared. "Both of them."

A collective gasp ran through the crowd. This was much worse than anyone could guess. They had to hold them off until the ministry of magic reinforcements arrived and then the Ninja would have to fight an army on their own otherwise their side had no chance.

As Naruto felt more and more of his clones return to him the sweat began to bead on his brow. They were getting through much too quickly, faster then he'd expected with so many to hold them off. He would need to go out there again and create more if they hoped to survive.

Harry watched Naruto run up the stairs, wondering why no one was trying to stop him. Then again, if he had a plan to stall them a little longer it wouldn't do to hinder him. Harry growled himself, he hated feeling so useless. His fist clenched tighter around his wand before he forced himself to relax it. He couldn't afford to snap his wand right now.

"You know," Sakura began, "we all know." She was smiling, abet tensely.

Harry was confused. "You all know what?"

"What he carries. Kakashi-sensei told me the first time I saw it completely take him over. I didn't tell Naruto I knew because he had tried to kill me while he was like that." Harry noticed she was alternating from crossing her arms and letting them fall to her side, as if she couldn't decide which she wanted them to do. She must have been really nervous to let something like that happen.

Harry let out a small sigh of relief. At least he hadn't spoiled the secret; he could even convince them all to tell Naruto. He knew it would be a big weight off his shoulders to know that his friends didn't hate him and treated him exactly the same. "How did everyone else find out?"

"You can probably guess Shikamaru's known the longest, he guessed way back when we were still gennin. The rest of them just worked it out on their own eventually. The Kyubi takes control much more often than he would like to think and after Gaara of the Sand we knew it was possible to be the container of a demon." Some of the tension slipped from her expression to be replaced by determination. "He's a bigger idiot then I thought if he thinks we'll give up on him because of something like that."

Harry snorted. "We were assigned a book in Defence Against the Dark Arts that told us all about it. We put two and two together when the Kyubi tried to escape. He exploded at me when I confronted him about it and then when the whole school was told… It's been better since you guys came though."

Her hands settled on her hips, seeming to find a compromise and she grinned. "I'll protect him to the end, as I will with all my friends. Nothing's going to change that ever."

"Nothing's going to change what?" Naruto had returned so suddenly Harry nearly jumped ten feet into the air. He looked haggard and a glance outside told him why. There were at least as many fresh clones now as there were at the beginning, though they were quickly being destroyed. The army was out of the forest now, coming up the grassy hill.

"That I'll protect your thick head no matter what, idiot. Goodness knows it needs protection. Any more hard knocks and you won't be able to use it at all."

Naruto pouted, though it was a mock expression, this was obviously standard barter for the two. "Aw Sakura-chan! My brain works just fine."

She raised one elegant eyebrow. "I suppose your head is rather thick, maybe it will take more than one more massive hit to put it out of action. You're lucky, people seems to aim for it."

Harry was glad both glad and disappointed that Ron and Hermione weren't here. On one hand having them here would comfort him. He'd be able to talk to them like Sakura did with Naruto (though not quite like that) and have their support when battle came. But he much preferred that they weren't. They weren't in danger of being maimed or killed in the fighting if they'd stayed. He couldn't lose any one else he care so much about; it would break him beyond repair.

Naruto broke off mid-sentence, his head whipping around to the window as the Hyuuga called out the alarm for everyone to brace themselves. Only a moment later an explosion rocked the castle to its core. It felt as though the whole place should have come falling down about their ears but it held and when the shaking stopped Sakura's jutsu was still in place, abet a little less vibrant.

A giant puff of smoke erupted outside and Naruto stood up straighter. "I've managed to take out about two hundred if their men, mainly wizards. There are roughly three thousand of them left though, which is big trouble against just us. If reinforcements don't get here soon we're screwed, my clones are gone." With his clumsy and loud act gone Naruto looked every bit the excellent warrior he claimed to be; he stood straight and proud, an intelligent glint to his blue eyes.

There was another explosion that unsteadied him on his feet and the pink faded even further. Whatever spell or Jutsu was being used was very strong to be whittling it down so quickly. Through the haze of smoke caused by the destruction of the rest of Naruto's clones, scores of people began to climb the bluff, cresting the hill and beginning to cross the courtyard towards the main doors. To have so many siege the castle while there were so few people here...

Half the shinobi went to the doorway, the other's to the window, intending to use them to their advantage in defending their position. The teachers raised their wands; shifting into defensive positions just as the Ninja readied their hand signs or weapons. Harry raised his wand but copied the stance Naruto was currently taking. He had the advantage here, knowing how to fight both ways, as did his tutor. They had been trying to find a way to fight with both wand and ninjutsu over the last few weeks.

Spells began to fly at the front door, trying to get it to open despite the guards woven into its making. Hogwarts had its own defences but they wouldn't hold for long. The tension in the air as the door creaked, wood snapping, metal bending – and then the ground began to shake again, though this time it formed a rhythm.

It reminded Harry of footsteps.

Naruto ran from the door to the window, Hinata swapping with him so that they weren't uneven in power at the weaker vantage point.

"Reinforcements have arrive!" He cheered. As much as he had grown out of his loudness, it was still a part of his real personality. Sakura's barrier shattered as the cry of battle rang out. Metal clashed against metal and spells hit or flew wide. In the chaos all but a few turned back to fight the new army at their rear. Those that remained were quickly felled by Neji, Hinata and Lee, no one tried for the window just yet.

Sakura seemed just as elated as Naruto. "Hokage-sama must have gotten our letter!"

"I'm going to feed Mizu different flavoured owl treats every day for the rest of her life when this is over! What are we waiting for? Let's get out there and help them!" Naruto pushed at Shikamaru to move until he did, by that point most everyone had already left.

Harry was at the door when he heard a soft voice call him back. Both he and Naruto stopped, turning to face Professor Hino.

"I doubt it wise for you to dash off to battle, Mr. Potter. You are the reason they are here in the first place." Her smile looked anything but grim, as the other teacher's expressions had been. She looked perfectly content to be at the edge of war. Harry noticed her eyes didn't quite focus on them, the way they usually did. The deepest brown, almost black had turned milky.

Harry realized he hadn't seen her outside of classes for a very long time. She had stopped coming down to the great hall for meals and even in the hallways she seemed to avoid him. Still he was certain her eyes had not been like that their last lesson of term. She had looked right at him to ask a question.

Beside him Naruto stiffened. Harry dared a glance to see his face had gone white under his tan, eyes wide before they narrowed and he moved forward, shoving Harry behind him. Too shocked by his reaction, Harry didn't protest the treatment.

"So you finally noticed?" the soft, aloft tone of Professor Hino's voice had changed into something more cold. She smiled icily, only looking in their general direction instead of her usually perfect stare. Her movements too, had become quicker, though she stood stock still. "I was worried when you looked at me like that on the first day of school. Looks like you're thicker than I thought you were, Dobe."

An explosion of smoke surrounded the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and when it cleared, as if in slow motion, there was someone else standing there. His dark hair pointed out behind his head and his fringe framed his perfect, pale face. He was every bit as beautiful as the woman he had assumed but his eyes now stared milky and unseeing somewhere over their shoulder, now that he didn't have to pretend.

The teen adjusted his clothing, brushed his fringe out of his face and settled into what someone who didn't know any better would think was a casual stance. "One would think you'd have gotten it right away; it _was_ your technique I was using, after all. And to think I called oiroke no jutsu a foolish technique."

Harry felt his blood run cold as he stared openly at the beautiful, blind boy now standing before him. Harry knew exactly who this was and what this meant.

Beside him Naruto growled and uttered but one word which rang throughout the entire room as if he'd shouted it.

"Sasuke."


	11. Ichidaiki

"Sasuke."

Naruto could feel his heart trying to explode out of his chest as a mantra of 'stupid, stupid, stupid' ran through his head. He'd known there was something off about her but he had been too preoccupied with his new environment and trying to get home. Harry had said all their Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers had been weird so he'd brushed it off as paranoia.

Now he knew better.

Sasuke tilted his head, a mockingly friendly gesture. "I must admit you had us worried when you were sent to the boy's bedroom instead of me. Turns out it's easier to get a place here then we'd planned. At least I didn't have to play the poor blind boy for months on end." He looked up, as if thinking. "It wasn't all that bad pretending to be a girl either. I can see why you kept doing it when we were children."

Naruto couldn't help the new growl that escaped his lips. The old Sasuke had rubbed him the wrong way but this one was worse.

Making sure Harry was still in a defendable position he forced a grin onto his lips. It was hard to achieve and hollow as a tree with termites but it was a part of this persona. "Didn't get enough last time we fought Sasuke? I would have thought once Orochipedo didn't want your body anymore you'd go off somewhere to sulk."

Sasuke's expression hardened, voice soft and deadly. "Did you think I was actually going to let such a person take over my body?"

"And what would you have done to stop him?" Naruto yelled back, all pretences gone. All these years Naruto had refused to let go. The promise he had made to Sakura, he had held it so close because he didn't want to admit that he had lost his best friend. That Sasuke wasn't going to come back and that even if he did, it was much too late. The village would have him killed for all his crimes. "I'm not sorry I took away what he wanted. I don't want you to disappear, no matter how much of a jerk you've become!"

To this Sasuke said nothing. His sightless eyes met Naruto's and as unnerving as it was he couldn't bring himself to pull away. Their stalemate lasted what seemed like forever but was actually only seconds then Naruto blinked and the spell was broken.

"Harry," He shot over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off Sasuke, though not meeting his gaze again either, "Go find Sakura and help her kick some butt."

Harry hesitated, obviously not wanting to leave but also wanting to join the brawl outside.

"This is my fight, go join your own." Naruto added and that had the wizard turn and run out the door.

Sasuke didn't even pretend to be going after him like he'd probably been ordered to. Instead he shifted into a more regimented battle stance and a familiar smirk tilted his features. "I've been waiting for this. Today I'm going to repay the favour you so charitably bestowed upon me a year ago and then some."

Naruto had no doubt that Sasuke was still quite the accomplished ninja. They didn't call him a genius for nothing and finding a way around his blindness had probably been something that had taken him a few months to perfect. Naruto had a few ideas how, including tracing chakra, but he couldn't rightly counter any of these without hindering himself.

Naruto took his own stance, withdrawing weapons and keeping them at the ready. The room was very large but he still had his worries about its welfare. "Bring it on." He said and at last they moved in to attack.

XXOO

Outside was chaos. Aurors from ministry had arrived as well as the Konoha Ninja, turning it into a true brawl. Harry had to use all the skills Naruto had taught him to dodge, duck and just generally survive his trip through the battle. Shields had been thrown up to protect the wizards on both sides. The ninja had the decided advantage with their speed but with them on both sides, it evened out the balance of power with Ninja protecting Wizards and vice versa when Magic spells were thrown.

Sakura was beside him before he'd even spotted her in the crowd. She stood with her back to his, lashing out at a Dark Wizard that had staggered too close. He went down and didn't get back up. Harry refused to think about that. Instead he threw a spell at Ninja who was looking to attack one of theirs from behind. His opponent was blasted in mid-air, thrown far off into the crowd so Harry couldn't see what became of him.

"What took you so long?" Sakura asked, not turning to look at him. She continued to fight off anyone who came too close while she spoke.

"Sas-" Harry cut himself off, not entirely sure if it was a good idea to tell her. "Professor Hino attacked Naruto." He settled for instead. It wasn't a lie; it just wasn't all the truth.

Unfortunately Sakura was a smart girl, probably too smart. "What were you going to say?" Even if he couldn't see her face, he could hear the danger in her voice. It was clear she wasn't going to take anything less than the whole truth from him right now. One didn't mess with Sakura on a normal day, it stood to reason that during a battle it was doubly so.

Sakura was gone before Harry could even get Sasuke's name out completely. He risked a glance over his shoulder when he felt the wind of her departure and was glad for it. Harry dodges the punch aimed at his head then back flipped to avoid a series of explosion tagged kunai which activated several meters away, heat washing over him and screams of anguish echoing over the battle cries.

XXOO

Naruto landed in a crouch, taking a moment to catch his breath. True to form, Sasuke had worked out a way around his disability, though Naruto had yet to work out how. It did have something to do with the Sharingan; perhaps that still worked to a degree since the eyes weren't gone, just unable to see.

It was no time to lament not using a more drastic method to blind his friend. Sasuke hadn't just summoned thousands of Kage Bunshin like Naruto had. The Uchiha hadn't even broken a sweat. He sprang forward again, and they locked Kunai, exchanging a series of blows until both their weapons were knocked away.

Again they sprang apart, but it wasn't for long. Sasuke skidded across the floor until he could stop his backward momentum. Naruto didn't wait for him to instigate the next strike. Sasuke ducked, trying to sweep his legs from underneath him. Naruto dodged but Sasuke flipped himself into a handstand, kicking up and making contact with the blonde's ankle. Thankfully it didn't do any lasting damage, but if did disrupt his landing. Naruto sprawled on the floor, sliding along the well polished wood on his back.

There was no turn system in a real fight. Sasuke didn't wait for him to get up. Naruto wasn't able to recover before Sasuke was on him again, landing a kick to his stomach. It was all Naruto could do to roll out of the way before the youth crushed his arm.

Winded, Naruto stumbled to his feet as the chirping began. His head snapped up and eyes widened. Blue lightening filled his vision – there was no time to move out of the way.

Sasuke slammed into the wall, the Chidori exploding and practically devastating the room. It would have compromised the integrity of the whole castle had it not been a magical building; then again the earlier explosions would have taken care of the place already had it been normal.

Sakura stood panting, not lowering the fist she'd used to slam Sasuke out of his attack. Naruto didn't allow himself to be distracted. He got himself back into a defensive stance before glancing at Sakura; she had tears in her eyes, shaking.

Sasuke was standing already, taking his time and trusting his former teammates not to attack while he did. He was right. Neither of them wanted Sasuke dead and it was two against one here. As strong as Sasuke was, he couldn't hold up against both of them.

Belatedly Naruto realized he should have taken out his wand and spelled Sasuke into a full body bind or something. Alas he'd fallen back into old habits against Sasuke. Perhaps he'd romanticized the idea of fighting Sasuke after so many times. It had to be a fair fight. Besides, Sasuke hadn't used his wand either.

Standing now, Sasuke's red eyes stared unblinkingly at them both for long moments before he reached into the pouch at his hip for something. The air seemed to warp around him, contorting his figure.

"SASUKE!" Sakura yelled, but she was too late. Sasuke was gone.

The sounds of the battle outside broke whatever held them in place. Sakura sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "We have to get out there and help." She said, a slight hitch to her voice quickly evening out. There was a fight to be had and there were many lives at stake.

Naruto clasped her shoulder briefly and nodded before they both ran to join the fray outside.

XXOO

Harry could hardly catch his breath. Bodies littered the ground and he'd almost tripped over them a few times. The smell of burnt flesh, smoke and blood coated his mouth, nostrils and throat until he was sure that was all he'd ever smell again. There was no grass left. Fire and feet had seen to that. The edge of the forbidden forest was ablaze, though whatever magic had seeped into the trees over the centuries seemed to keep it from spreading any further into the trees.

The good news was their side seemed to be winning. The enemy was being driven back down the slope, giving the 'good guys' the advantage. Harry was still being bombarded by attacks. No doubt people knew to target him. He had managed to find Neji, Lee, and Hinata; the latter now fighting back to back with him. Neji and Lee seemed to work better individually anyway.

There was a loud 'poof' somewhere nearby and Harry noticed a few of Naruto's clones. No doubt there was more scattered around the battle field. He had to wonder what had happened with Sasuke, since Naruto was obviously still alive, but that would have to wait for later.

There was another explosion then. It ripped through the grounds, killing and injuring many on both sides of the battle. Through the smoke and fire, Harry saw a figure – no, two figures. His scar began to burn but he stood his ground. Calls for a retreat from the enemy were ignored as his world narrowed to those two people walking towards him through the chaos.

"Harry Potter." The hiss was familiar, seemed to vibrate through his very soul and set his teeth on edge. Harry grit them, hand clenching around his wand until he reminded himself to not hold so hard.

"Tom Riddle." He replied, perhaps a little foolishly. He would not let Voldemort get the best of him. He would get any advantage he could.

His scar began to burn hotter, blinding the eye closest to it. Still Harry didn't reach up to touch it, or stir from his ready stance. He could not give either of these men an opening.

Orochimaru chuckled, the sound just as snakelike as his own Snake bastard's. "So this is your Harry Potter? He seems a little scrawny for the saviour of the Wizarding world."

"Your culture uses children as weapons; I hardly think you can comment." The smirk that crossed Voldemort's impossibly thin lips was sickening. "Besides, it was his mother who defeated me. This boy cannot hurt me while I am at my full strength."

There were no openings, no instant in their casual banter that either let down their guard. The pain increased even more until it was a struggle to keep even one of his eyes open or not double over and scream. It was so frustrating, infuriating that the other man… no, monster, had this power over him.

A thought came to him. Wasn't their connection both ways? Taking a deep breath Harry concentrated, glaring at Voldemort as he strolled casually towards him, as if he was in no rush. His body shook with the effort but, even just for a moment, the monster paused, flinched. The victory was short-lived. Both snake men sped up, as if noticing that their troops had gone, that soon the masses of remaining ninja and magic folk would descend on them once they noticed too.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. Orochimaru and Voldemort stopped. Harry risked a look behind him. Naruto stood there, along with the other Konoha ninja. Behind them were a good portion of Wizards, including the teachers, Dumbledore and several other ninja he didn't recognize. It was a large group and it wasn't everyone left. People were coming up from behind, trying to block them in.

It was as useless to try and stop the evil pair as it was to stop Sasuke. Knowing when to retreat was as much a part of a good tactician as any other part of war. That didn't stop a few of the crowd from trying. Several projectiles and even a few people threw themselves forward, encountering only empty space.

Harry just sighed in relief, though now that the impending threat of death was mostly gone, his stomach protested and he doubled over to heave up whatever he had yet to digest. Someone held his hair out of his face and guided him back inside, away from the carnage. Inside he found that it was Hinata. When she saw he was able to walk on his own, she blushed, smiled and went back outside, presumably to help with the casualties.

Naruto had walked them in and took charge of him now, leading him into the great hall to push him down onto a bench. Harry couldn't help but laugh at that lop sided grin, so out of place beneath the blood and grime covering the blonde's face. "You don't have to pretend with me." Harry said, still tasting bile on his tongue. He needed some water.

Naruto laughed back, looking up at the normal, overcast sky reflected in the roof for a long time before looking back to Harry with the same expression. "I'm not."


	12. Owari

Dumbledore's office was just as cluttered with miscellaneous items as it always had been. Currently it was also cluttered with people. Every surviving Ninja (the losses being considerably less than first expected once wounded were taken care of) as well as the heads of houses, Harry, a few prominent Aurors and of course Dumbledore himself had crammed into the office. Harry suspected that despite being quite big to begin with, it had perhaps grown just a little more to accommodate such a huge crowd.

He didn't bother listening to much of the current conversation. Naruto seemed to be just as bored with the droning recount of the battle, including statistics on both sides and what could be done to the school to make it more defendable next time. Personally Harry didn't see what they could do to place that already had the reputation of being the safest place in England. They hadn't actually gotten inside the building.

Talk turned rather suddenly to a much more relevant subject; what would happen now in regards to the relationship between Konohagakure and England's wizarding community? Apparently there would be an ambassador staying here, to keep communications open in the very likely situation their enemies stage another joint attack. No doubt a joint assistance treaty would be signed so that both countries could call upon one another for help.

"Tsunade-sama has requested her long term detail situated in this school return home." The official looking, albeit heavily scared Ninja said after the fact.

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but a look from Dumbledore silenced him. Naruto didn't say anything, just looked pensive. The others looked relieved, though he was certain Shikamaru looked a little disappointed at the prospect, though perhaps he was just finding the whole affair boring and Harry wasn't as good at reading people as he thought he was.

"If Hokage-sama so wishes." Sakura said at last, when it was clear no one else was going to say anything.

XXOO

"So you're really going then?"

Naruto turned from his trunk, a folded robe still in his hands. Harry went to sit on his own bed, staring out the window. "Yeah." he said simply, not really knowing how to broach the subject he knew Harry wanted to discuss. "Just packing."

Obviously Harry didn't care for dancing around the subject today. "Wouldn't it be more logical for you to be the ambassador? You've been here the longest, everyone knows you already and wouldn't it be handy to have a Shinobi know a lot more about magic?" Even with the brash words, Harry didn't look at him.

With a sigh, Naruto stopped what he was doing and turned to sit down, the mattress creaking as he did so. "I miss home. Besides, I'm no deliberator – well not yet at least."

Harry didn't say anything to this. Naruto frowned and moved to crouch on the floor in front of his friend. "It's not that I don't like you guys, hell, you've made all this fun. It's just…" Naruto trailed off, trying to think of the right words. His English had gotten really good, but he still didn't know everything. "I don't belong here." He decided. "Not as much as I belong back in Konoha. Tsunade-Ba-chan is training me to be the next Hokage – at least I think she is – anyway, I'm sure she wants us guys to go on a lot of missions. I bet I've missed a lot over the last few months." Naruto laughed, but it was hollow sounding.

They fell into silence then, both of them just staring at nothing.

"I'm going to miss you." Harry broke the silence.

"Yeah…" Naruto agreed. He would miss all of this, even the bad stuff. It was so exciting to find something new every day that he'd previously thought impossible. To be challenged on a new level. He'd been given a few books on magic to study back home but he probably wouldn't be as good at them as he would have with a teacher. Still, Ninjitsu was more important and he had been somewhat neglecting his true calling in the time he'd been here.

"Think you can give me a hand getting all my stuff into my trunk?" Naruto asked tentatively, hopefully. "Why is it nothing ever fits when you want to put it away, when it does when you first pack?"

A laugh left Harry's lips in a start. He got up, moving to Naruto's side of the room and set about helping Naruto get all his stuff into the trunk.

XXOO

Naruto had insisted they wait until term started again so that he could say goodbye to his friends who had been on holiday during the assault. Hermione looked at it in a pragmatic sort of way. It wasn't really goodbye; they would still be able to communicate with each other through owl and whatnot. If they worked out some sort of portkey system, they could even visit more easily, negating the need to actually travel anywhere.

Still when it came time to actually say goodbye, her eyes misted up and she didn't say very much. Ron shook everyone's hands, with a tight lipped goodbye. Harry suspected he was trying as hard not to cry as Hermione.

Harry himself felt a little more calm about the whole situation. Knowing Naruto wanted this, even if he would miss being here with his new friends. Harry could understand home sickness. He'd experienced it every summer he'd been sent back to the Dursleys. Hermione was right – they would see each other again.

He saved Naruto for last, holding out his hand. The youth took it, pulling Harry into a short, one armed hug with a quick pat on the back. When they pulled back, he didn't let go, just shook the hand a few times like he was supposed to.

"Cya." Said Harry, a sad smile stretching his lips.

"Cya soon." Naruto replied, giving Harry's hand one last firm shake. With a deep breath, the blonde let go and turned to join his comrades, placing a finger on the shoe they were using as a portkey. Within moments they were gone.

Harry looked down, realizing there was something in his hand. It turned out to be a small piece of paper. With both hands he gently unfolded it.

"What does it say?" asked Hermione.

Harry smiled, looking off into the distance. There had only been one word on the piece of paper. "'Thanks'."

(And there you have it! Completed, reviewed and reedited for a better reading experience. I was such a n00b when I started writing this. Hopefully it's slightly better now that I've gone over and changed/fixed the more annoying parts (not to mention my spelling and grammar XD). I hope you enjoyed reading this and please leave a review should you feel so inclined.)


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